MOSCOW, February 6. /TASS/. The assassination attempt against the Russian Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev, who serves as a deputy to head of the Defense Ministry’s Main Intelligence Directorate Igor Kostyukov, the head of Russia’s negotiating team in the United Arab Emirates, reveals Kiev’s reluctance to discuss ways of settling the conflict, Ukrainian former prime minister (2010-2014) Nikolay Azarov said.
In an interview with the Rossiya-24 television channel, Azarov said that he shares the opinion that the assassination attempt against Alexeyev shows that Kiev is not ready for substantive talks. Moreover, he said that he is convinced that Vladimir Zelensky’s office head Kirill Budanov (designated as a terrorist and extremist in Russia), who previously served as chief of the Ukrainian defense ministry’s main intelligence directorate (GRU) and who is now a member of Ukraine’s negotiating team, was aware of the plotted murder.
"I share this point of view because the [Ukrainian] delegation in Abu Dhabi included [Kirill] Budanov, who has not distanced himself from the GRU leadership who are responsible for a larger part of all terror attacks in Ukraine. He could not but be aware that such a terror attack had been hatched. He simply could not - even in his current capacity and because of this, he could not but know about what was being plotted. He could have ordered to stop because his vis-a-vis was the chief of the man who was a target of the attack. Can you imagine this? This is pure cynicism. I am shocked by such an attitude and such behavior," Azarov said.
The assassination attempt against Alexeyev took place on February 6, when an unidentified gunman fired several shots at the general in a residential building on Volokolamskoye Highway and fled the scene. The general was taken to the hospital with injuries. The Investigative Committee has launched a criminal investigation on charges of attempted murder and illicit trafficking in firearms.
Leonid Slutsky, chairman of the international committee of the Russian State Duma, or lower house of parliament, and leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), said that the investigation of the incident could reveal a Ukrainian trace. He lambasted the assassination attempt as "the Ukrainian Fuhrer’s new blow on the negotiating format" and called on Washington not to ignore this incident.