MOSCOW: Russian authorities have arrested a man suspected of shooting and wounding senior military intelligence officer Vladimir Alekseyev, the Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Sunday, adding that the suspect was detained in Dubai and extradited to Russia.

According to the FSB, the suspect, a man in his 60s, fled to the United Arab Emirates after the attack but was subsequently arrested and handed over to Russian authorities. A suspected accomplice was detained in Moscow, while another individual reportedly escaped to Ukraine, Russian media cited the FSB as saying.

The shooting comes amid a series of targeted attacks on senior Russian military officials in Russia and Moscow-controlled Ukrainian territories since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Alekseyev, deputy head of Russia’s GRU military intelligence service, was shot in a Moscow apartment on Friday and was later admitted to hospital.

He has been placed under Western sanctions for his alleged involvement in cyberattacks and for his purported role in the 2018 nerve agent attack on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in the United Kingdom.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Ukraine of orchestrating the attack.

Kyiv, which has previously claimed responsibility for the killing of several senior Russian military officials during the war, has not commented on the incident.