The leader of a pro-Russian paramilitary group in eastern Ukraine has died in the hospital after being injured in an explosion in Moscow on Monday morning, Russian media has said.
The arm Sargsyan, the head of the “Arbat” battalion, was seriously wounded after an explosion in the entrance to a residential building in northwestern Moscow, 12 km (7 miles) from the Kremlin.
He was evacuated to a hospital by helicopter and placed in intensive care after the explosion, but eventually succumbed to his injuries, according to usually reliable telegram sources.
Others – including one of the arm Sargsyan’s bodyguards – were also allegedly seriously injured, with some sources saying another person was dead.
In December, the Ukrainian Security Service SBU “Crime Manager” Mr. Sargsyan said was a suspect in “Recruiting prisoners to fight in Ukraine”, adding that he had been on an international sought -after list since May 2014 for his involvement in murder that was performed in the Center for Kyiv.
SBU added that Mr. Sargsyan was part of the inner circle of refugees former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich.
“The attempted murder of Sarkisyan was carefully planned and ordered. Investigators are currently identifying those who ordered the crime,” Tass quoted a law enforcement officer.
Pictures shared on social media show rubble and plaster that is sprinkled over a heavily damaged entrance hall with bursting windows and doorways.
Olga Voronova, a 36-year-old mother of three who lived in the building next to the explosion, told AFP News Agency that she was “very scared” and did not understand how the explosion could have happened.
“We have pretty serious security guards, they ask each car on the checkpoints, we order passports for guests, even for family members,” she said.
Mr. Sargsyan was born in Gorlovka, a city in Ukraine’s Donetsk -Region, which has been occupied by Russia since 2014.
In a telegram post confirming his death, the city’s mayor, Ivan Prikhodko, said Mr. Sargsyans “Most significant performance was the creation and management of a separate special strength battalion”.
Mr. Prikhodko said that Mr. Sargsyan was also the leader of the Boxing Federation of the Self-Proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic.
It is known that the “Arbat” battalion operates in Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukrainian troops are still present after launching a surprise offensive in August.
There have been a number of attacks on high -profile supporters of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in Moscow and in occupied areas.
Senior Russian naval officer Valery Trankovsky and Russian Prison Sergei Yevsyukov died after car bombs exploded in Russian occupied Ukraine by the end of 2024.
And in December, a senior general in the Russian armed forces and his assistant were killed in Moscow by Ukraine’s security servicetold a Ukrainian source BBC.