FSB associate detained over attempt on GRU general
Pavel Vasin (Photo: t.me/astrapress)
Russia’s FSB detained an employee of an FSB-linked organization
and his son on suspicion of involvement in an assassination attempt on the
deputy head of the GRU (military intelligence), Lt. Gen. Vladimir Alekseyev.
According to a Feb. 10 report by independent Russian outlets iStories and Agentstvo, the suspects are Viktor Vasin and his son, Pavel. Earlier, Russian state propaganda agencies TASS and RIA Novosti reported that Pavel Vasin was detained; his father, 66-year-old Viktor Vasin, had already been arrested in the same case.
According to statements from Russian security officials cited by media, investigators say Pavel Vasin helped other accomplices by providing vehicles used for surveillance and for retrieving weapons from a cache. He is also accused of buying a dashboard camera and a tracking device that were allegedly used to follow Alekseyev.
Investigative reporters said Viktor Vasin graduated from the Kemerovo Higher Military Command School of Communications. In a résumé, he listed positions including regimental chief of staff and head of a satellite communications station, posts that investigators say would typically carry the rank of lieutenant colonel.
Leaked database records indicate that in 2025 Vasin worked as a senior specialist in civil defense and emergency affairs at the Atlas Scientific and Technical Center. Journalists say the center produces cryptographic tools and hardware-software systems for detecting cyberattacks under licenses from the FSB and the Foreign Intelligence Service, and that in the 2000s it was officially under FSB control and known as Atlas FSB.
Pavel Vasin is also an officer in the Russian army and is a
graduate of the Strategic Missile Forces Academy. Leaks show he served five
years under contract. From September 2022 to March 2023, he was employed at the
Astronomical Scientific Center. The U.S. Treasury added the center to its
sanctions list in February 2024, citing its work in Russia’s technology sector.
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