The doors of the Kremlin are thick, but the sound of gunfire on the Volokolamskoye Highway has penetrated them. President Vladimir Putin has been personally briefed on the attempted assassination of Lieutenant General Vladimir Alekseyev, a development that signals deep unease at the very top of the Russian power vertical.

Kremlin spokespeople were quick to state that "special services are looking into it," a standard line that barely conceals the fury behind the scenes. Alekseyev was a man entrusted with the state's darkest secrets. His vulnerability is the state's vulnerability. The "So What?" is the erosion of the aura of invincibility that Putin cultivates. If he cannot protect his own generals in his own capital, the projection of control begins to crumble.

The Blame Game Begins

The reaction in Moscow has been swift and predictable. Parliamentarians like Alexei Zhuravlev are already pointing fingers at Kyiv, claiming the hit benefits only Volodymyr Zelenskyy. It is a convenient narrative that rallies the public, but it ignores the possibility of internal rot.

• The Ukraine Narrative: Blaming Kyiv justifies further escalation and distracts from domestic security failures.
• The Internal Feud: Alekseyev was a key handler of the Wagner Group. In the viper’s nest of Russian politics, old grudges from the Prigozhin mutiny era may still be lethal.
• The Investigation: CCTV footage is being scoured, and eyewitnesses interrogated, but in cases like this, the real truth is rarely found in a police report. It is found in who gets promoted—or fired—next.

A System Under Stress

This shooting comes at a critical moment, just after peace talks in Abu Dhabi showed a glimmer of progress. Hardliners in Moscow may be using this to sabotage those talks, or Kyiv may be demonstrating that it can reach anyone, anywhere. Regardless of the author, the message is chaos.

As Putin receives his updates, the question is not just who pulled the trigger, but whether the Russian security state can plug the holes in its own armor before another general falls.

The war is no longer "over there." It is in the elevator, on the street, and in the briefing papers on the President's desk.