Lt Gen Vladimir Alexeyev was immediately taken to hospital after the attack in a residential block of flats on the north-western outskirts of the Russian capital and his condition is unknown.

Alexeyev is number two in the main directorate of Russia’s GRU military intelligence and the latest high-ranking military figure to have been targeted in the capital since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began almost four years ago.

He was placed under European Union and UK sanctions after the GRU was accused of being behind the 2018 nerve agent attack in Salisbury in the UK.