Yanukovych-Era Crime Boss May Have Been Killed by Suicide Bomber

Pro-Kremlin social media has accused Ukraine in the assassination of Donetsk People’s Republic military leader Armen Sarkisyan in Moscow on Monday, which was carried out by a suicide bomber with criminal links to the assassination target.

The founder of the pro-Russian ArBat battalion in the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR), Armenian-born Armen Sarkisyan, also known as Armen Gorlovsky, was killed by an explosion in the entrance hall to the Scarlet Sails residential complex in Moscow on Monday. A second individual was killed, and three others were injured. The finger of suspicion was immediately pointed at Ukraine.

The picture changed on Tuesday when several Russian official news sites, including Interfax.ru and the “112” pro-Kremlin Telegram channel reported the attack was now believed to have been a suicide attack.

The Interfax news agency citing an unnamed law enforcement officer said: “The leading theory is that the explosion in the apartment block was committed by a suicide bomber. Early indications are that he detonated an explosive device that he had brought with him.”

The Russian Kommersant state news site said that surveillance footage taken at the time showed an individual, tentatively identified as “Parur K,” an Armenian, greeting Sarkisyan in the building lobby before detonating a Mon-50 a Soviet-era Claymore-type anti-personnel landmine.

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Speaking to journalists, Peskov confirmed that discussions were taking place “along the lines of individual departments,” but provided no further details.

The Moscow Times said that the device had been planted in advance and may have been linked to Sarkisyan’s criminal activities rather than the war in Ukraine.  He was said to be one of Russia’s largest importers of foreign tobacco and the attack could have resulted from a power struggle or blood feud between smuggling gangs.

As Kyiv Post reported on Monday, Ukraine had issued an arrest warrant in 2014 for Sarkisyan, who was alleged to have organized violent attacks against protestors during the Revolution of Dignity in 2013-14, as well as the murder journalist Vyacheslav Veremiy.

The ArbBat Battalion was organized by him to fight on behalf of Russia following the annexation of Crimea and parts of Ukraine’s Donbas region. The irregular unit is said to be made up of around 500 troops, mostly ethnic Armenians.

According to 112, the suicide bomber had a sword tattooed on his left shin, which could indicate that he was a former paratrooper and that Russian police were currently interrogating several of the killer’s accomplices.