High-ranking GRU officer shot dead in Moscow Oblast, Russian media reports

Nikita Klenkov, deputy commander of a unit of Russia’s military intelligence service (GRU), was shot dead by an unknown assailant in Moscow Oblast, Russian state-controlled media reported on October 16.

Klenkov, 44, was reportedly deputy commander of GRU Unit 43292, which serves as a training center for special forces, according to the Moscow Times. reported.

The Russian Telegram channel Baza reported that Klenkow was shot on the side of the road in the town of Melenki, east of Moscow. The attacker reportedly fired eight shots from the window of a car.

According to Russian state media TASS, Klenkow “returned home from the Ukrainian front a week ago,” a GRU source said.

Russian state media reported that an investigation into the shooting was underway.

The Kyiv Independent was unable to verify any of the reports in Russian state media.

It is currently unclear whether the attack was intended to be a politically motivated assassination. Kyiv has not commented on the situation.

In July, another Russian GRU officer had his feet blown off in an attack Car bombing in Moscow.

Kyiv denied any involvement in this attack. Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak told According to independent Russian media, he assumed there had been “a malfunction of the gas equipment in the car.”