The founder of a pro-Russian militia group in eastern Ukraine, referred to by Kyiv authorities as a “criminal mastermind,” has died after a bombing in central Moscow, according to Russian state media.
Armen Sarkisyan passed away on Monday at a Moscow hospital from injuries sustained in an explosion at a luxury residential complex in the city, as reported by TASS, citing medical sources. The Russian Investigative Committee later confirmed his death, noting that one of the victims died despite receiving medical help.
Sarkisyan, also known as “Armen Gorlovsky” after his hometown of Horlivka in eastern Ukraine, founded the separatist Arbat Battalion in the region. Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence described him as a notorious criminal figure and said he became the “supervisor” of prisons across Russia and in Ukrainian territories under occupation in November 2022.
According to Ukrainian Defense Intelligence, the creation of the Arbat Battalion in 2022 was an effort to challenge the influence of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner Group, in the Russian private military sector. Prigozhin was killed the following year when his plane crashed, just two months after his attempted mutiny against Russia’s leadership.
The Arbat Battalion fought in several significant battles during the ongoing war in Ukraine, with the Institute for the Study of War reporting that the battalion was made up almost entirely of former Wagner personnel, as noted in an October 2023 report by the US-based think tank.
Sarkisyan, also known for his ties to former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who fled to Russia after being ousted in 2014 following deadly protests, was wanted by Ukraine for his involvement in the violent suppression of those demonstrations against Yanukovych.
Sarkisyan died after an explosion occurred as he was leaving the exclusive Aliye Parusa residential complex in northwest Moscow on Monday morning, as reported by a local resident in a video shared by independent Russian media outlet SOTA.
When asked about the incident during a press briefing, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, “The special services are doing their job. It is difficult work. The information is being clarified, and work is ongoing, so it is impossible for us to comment on anything at this time.”