An explosion shook a high-end residential area in Moscow on Monday morning, resulting in the deaths of two individuals, one of whom was a prominent leader of a battalion engaged in combat against Ukrainian forces in eastern Ukraine. Additionally, three others sustained injuries, as confirmed by local officials and media outlets.
Video evidence released by Russia’s Investigative Committee depicted a building entryway plagued by shattered glass doors and a severely damaged ceiling. While the cause of the explosion was not specified, state news organization Tass quoted an anonymous law enforcement source alleging that a bomb had been planted within the building.
In response to the incident, the Investigative Committee launched a criminal investigation focused on charges of murder with public endangerment, as well as attempted murder involving multiple victims and weapons trafficking.
Media outlets such as Tass and RIA Novosti named one of the deceased as Armen Sarkisyan, who founded a volunteer battalion that operated in Ukraine and was also the president of a boxing federation in the Donetsk region under Russian control. Both reports indicated that he succumbed to his injuries at the hospital.
Additionally, reports revealed that Sarkisyan’s bodyguard lost his life in the explosion. Initially, officials had stated that one person was killed and four were injured; however, it was later clarified that one of the injured passed away in medical care, leaving three others still hospitalized.
Sarkisyan was previously charged in absentia by Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) in December for alleged involvement in illegal military operations or supporting such activities against Ukrainian armed forces. The SBU has accused him of recruiting prisoners to fight in Ukraine and working alongside Russian security services to create a military group known as “ArBAT” or the “Armenian Battalion.”
This group battled Ukrainian military forces in the Toretsk area of the Donetsk region and also saw action in Russia’s Kursk region, as noted by the SBU. In August, Ukrainian forces had made incursions into the Kursk area.
Notably, there was no mention of Ukraine in the statements released by Russian officials regarding the explosion, and as of now, Ukrainian authorities have refrained from commenting on the matter.
