By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
MOSCOW/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – The founder of a pro-Russian militia group in eastern Ukraine, seen by Kyiv as a “criminal mastermind”, has been assassinated in Moscow, Russian officials announced Monday.
Armen Sarkisyan died Monday at a Moscow hospital from injuries sustained in a bombing in an upmarket residential complex in the north-west part of the city, some 12 kilometers (7 miles) from the Kremlin, medical services said.
He had reportedly been flown to the hospital by helicopter and placed in intensive care but succumbed to his injuries. The Russian Investigative Committee said, “Despite the assistance provided, one of the victims died in a medical facility.”
Others – including one of Armen Sargsyan’s bodyguards – were also reportedly seriously injured, with some sources saying one of them died.
Sargsyan will be remembered as the leader of the “Arbat” battalion. He was born in Horlivka, a city in Ukraine’s Donetsk region that Russia has occupied since 2014.
Writing on the social media platform Telegram, the town’s mayor, Ivan Prikhodko, said Sargsyan’s “most significant achievement was the creation and leadership of [Arbat], a separate special forces battalion.”
Prikhodko said Sargsyan was also the head of the Boxing Federation of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic.
KURSK REGION
The “Arbat” battalion has been known to operate in Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukrainian troops are still present after they launched a surprise offensive there in August.
Kyiv did not immediately react to his death, but there have been several assassinations of high-profile supporters of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in Moscow and occupied areas.
Senior Russian naval officer Valery Trankovsky and Russian prison boss Sergei Yevsyukov died after car bombs exploded in Russian-occupied Ukraine in late 2024.
And in December, a high-ranking general in the Russian armed forces and his assistant were reportedly killed in Moscow by Ukraine’s security service.
Kyiv described Sargsyan as a suspect in “recruiting prisoners to fight in Ukraine.”
Ukrainian authorities also put him on “an international wanted list” in May 2014 for his alleged involvement in murders carried out in the center of Kyiv.
Ukrainian intelligence sources said Sargsyan was part of the inner circle of fugitive former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.
CAREFULLY PLANNED
“The assassination attempt on Sarkisyan was carefully planned and was ordered. Investigators are currently identifying those who ordered the crime,” a law enforcement told Russian media.
Images shared on social media showed rubble and plaster strewn across a heavily damaged entrance hall with blown-out windows and doorways.
Olga Voronova, a 36-year-old mother of three who lived in the building next door to the explosion, said she was “very scared” and did not understand how the blast could have happened.
“We have quite serious security guards; they ask every car at the checkpoints, and we order passes for guests, even family members,” the woman added.
She isn’t alone.
Several Russians faced similar attacks as Kyiv brought the war closer to the Kremlin ahead of possible negotiations on ending a Russia-Ukraine war that is believed to have killed and injured one million soldiers.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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