Woman accused in plot against Russian defence official appeals arrest in absentia

Zinaida Serebritskaya, whom Russian investigators consider an accomplice in the attempted assassination of Deputy Defence Minister Vladimir Alekseyev, has appealed a court decision ordering her arrest in absentia.

The Zamoskvoretsky District Court of Moscow imposed the preventive measure on February 11. Based on that ruling, investigators placed Serebritskaya on both federal and international wanted lists. She has been charged with assaulting a representative of the authorities, Caliber.Az reports per Russian media. 

Her interests in court are being represented by a state-appointed lawyer.

According to Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), Serebritskaya departed Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport for Istanbul on February 5, one day before the attempt on Alekseyev’s life.

Investigators allege that she had been living in a rented apartment in the same building as the general on Volokolamskoye Shosse in Moscow and provided an electronic entrance key to the suspected assailant, identified as Lyubomir Korba.

Korba and two alleged accomplices — identified as a father and son surnamed Vasina — have been detained.

The assassination attempt took placeon February 6 at a residential building on Volokolamskoye Shosse in Moscow. According to preliminary reports, the attacker lay in wait for Alekseyev on a stairwell landing. The general reportedly managed to react to the initial shots, which struck his limbs, before being wounded in the chest or abdomen as the assailant fled the scene.

By Sabina Mammadli