Russia’s FSB security service said Tuesday that it arrested a Moldovan man who is suspected of shooting a Russian Aerospace Forces general on behalf of Ukraine last week.
The FSB said its agents in the southern Astrakhan region arrested the man, identified as 21-year-old Nicolae Cociu. Investigators claim that Cociu shot a Russian serviceman near the Saratov region city of Engels last Thursday.
While authorities did not identify the Russian serviceman by name, pro-Kremlin media reported last week that Major General Nikolai Varpakhovich, who heads a strategic bomber division at Engels-2 airbase, was shot and wounded in the Saratov region.
In an official statement, the Investigative Committee, Russia’s top investigative body, confirmed the armed attack against the officer, who was hospitalized after receiving six gunshot wounds.
The shooting occurred days after Ukraine pressed criminal charges against Varpakhovich in absentia for allegedly ordering a fatal missile strike on the Okhmatdyt children’s hospital in Kyiv in July 2024.
