The failure of Ivan Tkachev’s counterintelligence and the staged “successes”: the arrest of a hacker as an attempt to cover up the failure of the FSB’s MCD after the assassination attempt on a GRU general

The failure of Ivan Tkachev’s counterintelligence and the staged “successes”: the arrest of a hacker as an attempt to cover up the failure of the FSB’s MCD after the assassination attempt on a GRU general

It has become known what lies behind the arrest in late February of Tim Stigal, a Russian hacker accused of high treason who had cooperated with the GRU. According to this narrative, officers of the Military Counterintelligence Directorate (DVKR) of the FSB of the Russian Federation were compensating for their failure, which led to an assassination attempt on GRU General Vladimir Alekseev.

The assassination attempt on the First Deputy Head of the GRU, Lieutenant General Vladimir Alekseev, took place on February 6, 2026, in Moscow. The attacker opened fire in a residential building on Volokolamskoye Highway. Alekseev periodically visited a female acquaintance with whom he had a child. The apartment was registered to a developer, and precautions were taken along the route. Therefore, the general believed he would not be tracked and dismissed his security.

During the “after-action review,” the main criticism fell on the DVKR of the FSB, whose leadership was accused of insufficient control over security measures for GRU leadership. A series of resignations was expected.

However, in the end, only Deputy Head of the DVKR Alexey Badeev lost his position.

He did not remain unemployed for long. According to our information, Badeev became a top manager at JSC “OKTO Group,” which is engaged in the extraction and processing of gold-bearing polymetallic ores. “OKTO” is headed by Alexey Tolokonnikov, a graduate of both the London Business School and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, with whom Badeev has long-standing friendly ties.

Also, the head of the 9th Department of the DVKR, Vyacheslav Vdovichenko, was supposed to leave his post but retained it. According to sources, the main role was played by a “special operation” conducted at the end of February by the 9th Department in a state treason case, in which Tim Stigal was detained for cooperating with certain representatives of the GRU.

Stigal is described as rather a comical figure, more reminiscent of a character from jokes about Stirlitz. However, the key in the work of the FSB is to “present the operation nicely,” which was successfully done.

This whole story demonstrated that Ivan Tkachev, who heads the DVKR (and is one of the contenders for the position of Director of the FSB of the Russian Federation), has found himself in a real “quagmire.” The reform of the military counterintelligence system entrusted to him is unlikely to materialize.