A pro-Russia paramilitary leader from eastern Ukraine was apparently assassinated in an explosion in Moscow on Monday morning.
Armen Sargsyan, leader of the criminal-filled Arbat battalion, died from his wounds at a hospital after a bomb exploded in the lobby of an apartment complex about 7 miles from the Kremlin.
At least four other people were injured, including the residence’s concierge, in the blast, which blew off one of Sargsyan’s legs and left his face so mangled that it was difficult at first to identify him, according to the Washington Post and local outlets.
“The assassination attempt on Sarkisyan was carefully planned and was ordered. Investigators are currently identifying those who ordered the crime,” Kremlin law-enforcement officials said, according to Russia’s TASS news agency.
Sargsyan, 46, was accused by Ukraine’s secret service, the SBU, of carrying out assassinations in Kyiv. He was part of fugitive former President Viktor Yanukovych’s inner circle and has been on an international wanted list since 2014.
The explosion occurred as Sargsyan exited an elevator in the building, according to Russian reports.
Videos circulating on Russian social media show much of the lobby destroyed as authorities with bomb-sniffing dogs responded to the scene, the BBC reported.
Olga Voronova, a 36-year-old mother who lives in the building next to the crime scene, told AFP that the blast left her feeling “very scared.
“We have quite serious security guards, they ask every car at the checkpoints, we order passes for guests, even for family members,” she said.
Sargsyan was born in Gorlovka, a town in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, which has been occupied by Russian forces since 2014, according to the BBC.
He was the head of the Donetsk People’s Republic’s Boxing Federation and founded the Arbat volunteer battalion — a fighting force consisting of mainly ethnically Armenians who have been convicted of such violent crimes as murder and robbery, according to the Ukrainian news outlet the RBC Ukraine.
Monday’s explosion once again shows Ukraine or pro-Ukrainian actors’ willingness and ability to take the war with Russia far beyond the front lines and deep into Russian territory, experts say.
