A RUSSIAN FSB counterintelligence officer has been shot dead inside the country’s defence ministry premises in the heart of Moscow.

Vladimir Feshchenko, 26, a senior lieutenant, was killed by a bullet to the head in the mysterious shooting in the latest blow to tyrant Putin.

Feshchenko died on the night of Monday, January 13, in the departmental building on Olkhovskaya Street. 

The killer was allegedly a more junior warrant officer who was visiting him in his office in a defence ministry building.

The victim “was covered in blood – there was a deep wound on his forehead”, reports say.

The suspect was detained soon afterwards – but intrigue surrounds the incident.

Feshchenko – a Russian champion in kettlebell lifting as well as a secret services officer – is believed to have worked at the FSB Directorate for the Moscow Military District.

Law enforcement expert Vladimir Osechkin, founder of Gulagu.net human rights group, said there is a war underway between the defence ministry and FSB officers assigned to snoop on them.

“Here is another case where a soldier simply cannot withstand the pressure and shoots a FSB officer in the forehead with his service weapon,” he said.

The incident would be covered up and portrayed as a “domestic conflict”, he said  – which is how it was officially described.

Official sources said the murder was the result of a “quarrel between two men” who had served together in the Russian Far East.

“During the examination, a gunshot wound to the head was found,” reported RBC, citing intelligence sources.

“The cause of the murder was a domestic conflict with a military man.”

A murder case has since been opened.