Pro-Russian paramilitary leader dies in hospital after Moscow explosion

Editor’s note: The story is being updated as it develops.

Armen Sarkisyan, a pro-Russian collaborator from Donetsk Oblast wanted by Ukraine, died in the hospital after being injured in an explosion in an elite residential complex in Moscow on Feb. 3, the state news agency TASS reported, citing healthcare officials.

The leader of the Kremlin-aligned Arbat paramilitary unit was severely injured when an unidentified explosive device went off in the lobby of one of the buildings in the”Alye Parusa” (Scarlet Sails) residential complex in northwestern Moscow.

The collaborator was initially reported killed, but the Russian media later clarified he was transported to the hospital and had to undergo a leg amputation.

Russia’s Investigative Committee, which launched an investigation into the explosion, later confirmed Sarkisyan had died in the hospital.

Sarkisyan was a Donetsk Oblast crime boss and a close former associate of Ukraine’s pro-Kremlin ex-President Viktor Yanukovych. He had been on an international wanted list since 2014 for organizing murders in central Kyiv, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said.

During the EuroMaidan Revolution, Sarkisyan reportedly organized the hired pro-government thugs (“titushky”) who harrassed pro-EuroMaidan protesters.

After the full-scale invasion broke out, Sarkisyan founded the Arbat Separate Guards Special Purpose Battalion, a paramilitary unit linked to the Russian Defense Ministry and fighting against Ukraine.

The group is reportedly mostly made up of ethnic Armenians, many of whom have criminal records.

The explosion reportedly occurred when Sarkisyan and his security guards were entering the building. Five people were reported injured in the blast overall, while one of the guards was said to have been killed.

Serhii Shkriabatovskyi, a native of Ukraine residing in Russia, was among those injured, the independent outlet Agentstvo wrote, identifying him as a member of Yanukovych’s security detail in 2013-14.

Russian law enforcement services suspect that Sarkisyan was a victim of a planned assassination, TASS reported. The Kyiv Independent could not verify the claims. It is currently unclear who was behind the explosion.

The killing of Sarkisyan follows several high-profile assassinations in Moscow. Most recently, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov was killed on Dec. 17 with a bomb attached to a scooter outside his home in Moscow.

The Security Service of Ukraine (Was) was responsible for the attack on Kirillov, a source in the agency told the Kyiv Independent. A day before his assassination, Ukrainian prosecutors charged Kirillov in absentia with the use of banned chemical weapons in Ukraine.

A year earlier, Illia Kyva, a pro-Russian former lawmaker in the Ukrainian parliament, was found dead in Moscow Oblast shortly after being convicted in absentia of treason by a Lviv court. According to the Kyiv Independent’s source in law enforcement, he was assassinated by the SBU.

Kyva was an infamous political figure in Ukraine who had openly supported Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and was living in hiding in Russia. He left Ukraine shortly before Russia launched its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022.

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