Vladimir Alekseyev has been under the EU sanctions for orchestrating the novichok poisoning attack in Salisbury in 2018 that targeted Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter.
A high-profile Russian general and military intelligence official has been shot several times by an unidentified gunman in Moscow on Friday.
Lieutenant General Vladimir Alekseyev was immediately taken to hospital after the attack in a residential building on the north-western outskirts of the capital. According to the reports, the assailant fled the scene.
Alekseyev's condition is unknown at this time, but he is said to have survived the shooting, according to Russian media reports.
Russian media said that "the killer was waiting for the Lieutenant General of the Russian Defence Ministry near a residential building”.
Russian Investigative Committee opened a criminal case on the grounds of an “attempted murder”.
Alekseyev is the first deputy head of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (GRU). He has been the GRU number two since 2011.
He was sanctioned by the US in 2016 for being the mastermind of “malicious cyber activities” during the US presidential election the same year.
Alekseev has also been accused by the UK and EU of orchestrating the novichok chemical weapons attack in Salisbury in 2018 that targeted Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter.
The two survived, but a British national who later found novichok — hidden in a perfume bottle — died from the consequences of exposure to it.
The Kremlin awarded him the title of Hero of the Russian Federation in 2019.