One stairwell ambush in Moscow just handed the Kremlin a ready-made story about NATO “terrorism” that could outlive the bullets.

The Stairwell Attack Russia Won’t Treat as “Just Crime”

Lt. Gen. Vladimir Alexeyev, a deputy head of Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency, was shot in the stairwell of his Moscow apartment building on February 6, 2026. Reports differ on whether three or four rounds hit him, but the essentials are consistent: a silenced pistol, close range, and a victim who survived after critical injuries. Russia quickly framed the episode as a national-security strike rather than a street-level hit.

Survival changed the stakes. A dead general becomes a martyr; a living one becomes a witness and a continuing security problem. Alexeyev’s role adds gasoline: Western sanctions have associated him with the GRU’s past operations, including the Skripal poisoning case and election-related meddling claims. Moscow can use that record two ways at once—proof he’s “important enough” to target, and proof that Russia’s enemies won’t stop at the battlefield.

FSB’s Narrative: A Recruitment Trail That Conveniently Crosses Poland

The FSB’s public storyline centers on Lyubomir Korba, described as Ukrainian-born and later living in Russia, allegedly recruited in August 2025 in Ternopil, trained in Kyiv, vetted by polygraph, and instructed on communications. The travel route described—Kyiv to Chișinău to Tbilisi to Moscow—reads like a stitched-together intelligence itinerary designed to sound operationally plausible. It also sets up the punchline: outside help.

That punchline is Poland. Russia alleges Korba’s son, a Polish citizen living in Katowice, helped facilitate recruitment with Polish intelligence assistance. It is a dramatic claim because it pulls a NATO member into an attempted assassination inside Moscow, a bright red line in any serious reading of state-to-state conflict. The problem is the same one that haunts most confession-driven spy dramas: the public has not seen corroborating evidence.

Arrests, Extradition, and the Limits of Confession-as-Proof

Russian accounts say Korba was detained in Dubai on February 8 and extradited to Russia, while Viktor Vasin was detained in Moscow. A third suspect reportedly fled to Ukraine. Russia then released a video of Korba describing his recruitment and the supposed Polish connection. That sequence is built for television: quick capture, quick admission, quick geopolitical conclusion. It is also built for skepticism, because confessions in authoritarian systems rarely answer the first conservative question: where are the independently verifiable facts?

Common sense says a real cross-border intelligence plot would leave trails—money transfers, travel documentation, communications metadata, logistics support, weapons sourcing. Russia may possess some of that, but it has not made a public evidentiary showing. Conservatives should resist the temptation to “pick a team” and instead pick a standard: extraordinary claims about NATO involvement in political violence require extraordinary proof, not just an edited interrogation clip and official insistence.

Poland’s Denial and the Strategic Value of Calling It “Disinformation”

Poland’s military counterintelligence leadership rejected the accusation, describing it as typical disinformation intended for Russian audiences. Ukraine also denied involvement, with Ukraine’s foreign minister suggesting the episode could reflect Russian infighting. Those responses are not mere press lines; they are defensive tactics in a hybrid conflict where reputations, alliances, and deterrence matter. Accepting Moscow’s framing without proof would invite pressure to escalate against Poland and strain NATO cohesion.

Poland’s larger context makes the allegation easier for Moscow to sell at home. Poland has served as a key hub for aid to Ukraine, hosted large numbers of Ukrainian refugees, and taken a hard line against Russian influence operations. Russia already labels Poland “Russophobic,” and polling cited in reporting suggests a large share of Russians view Poland as an enemy. That sentiment creates a domestic market for any story that paints Warsaw as an active co-belligerent.

Why Alexeyev Became the Perfect Propaganda Target

Assassination attempts in wartime do not function like normal crime; they function like messages. Alexeyev sits at the intersection of Russia’s external operations and internal security anxieties. Russia has reported multiple attacks on military and law enforcement figures since 2022, including killings of senior officers that Moscow often attributes to Ukrainian services. Whether every case is connected or not, the pattern gives the Kremlin a ready-made template: “they are coming for our generals.”

That template serves at least three purposes. It justifies tighter internal controls, harsher counterintelligence measures, and expanded surveillance. It supports retaliation narratives abroad, including cyber operations or diplomatic expulsions, because Moscow can claim it is responding to “terrorism.” It also pressures NATO by trying to force Western publics into a binary choice: believe Russia’s accusation and fear escalation, or reject it and be accused of enabling attacks.

The Conservative Lens: Demand Receipts, Not Theater

American conservatives have learned, the hard way, to distrust information operations—whether they come wrapped in progressive activism at home or state propaganda abroad. The disciplined position here is simple: treat the shooting as real, treat the accused as accused, and treat the alleged Polish involvement as unproven until evidence appears. Sovereign nations have a right to defend themselves, but they also have a duty to speak truthfully when accusing others of acts that could spark wider conflict.

Russia has accused Polish intelligence of being involved in last week’s attempted assassination of a general in Moscow, which it says was carried out on Ukraine’s orders.

Poland has not yet commented on the claims, which were presented without evidence https://t.co/GRUf4GthVY

— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) February 9, 2026

The open loop that matters now is what comes next: proof or policy. If Russia produces verifiable details—financial records, device forensics, third-party confirmations—the political consequences for Poland and NATO debate will sharpen. If it does not, the accusation still serves its purpose by sowing suspicion and inflaming domestic anger. Either way, a silenced pistol in a Moscow stairwell has already done its job: it turned a violent act into a geopolitical instrument.

Sources:

Russia accuses Poland of involvement in an assassination attempt on general in Moscow

Russia accuses Poland of being involved in assassination attempt on high-ranking general

Russia: Vladimir Alexeyev shooting latest in a series of attacks targeting Putin’s allies

FSB claims Polish connection in attack on general Alekseyev

Polish spy chief rejects Russian claims of involvement in assassination plot