Gazeta Lodz - East Ukrainian crime boss killed in Moscow blast: Russian media

Armen Sarkisian, a known mafia boss from east Ukraine who had formed a battalion to fight against Kyiv, is the latest target in a string of explosions on Russian soil.

Russia has been hit by a series of killings and mysterious blasts since launching its offensive in Ukraine in 2022.

Sarkisian has been wanted by Kyiv since 2014 and Ukraine's SBU security service had in December declared him a suspect in "recruiting prisoners to fight in Ukraine".

"Sarkisian died in hospital after an assassination in Moscow," the TASS news agency reported, after Russian media intially said he was seriously wounded in the blast.

Russian police earlier said one other person was killed in the "incident" at the complex in northwest Moscow.

The Kremlin said special services were working at the scene and declined to comment while "information was being clarified".

Kyiv had not yet commented.

In December, it said it was behind the killing of Russian army general Igor Kirillov in Moscow, its most audacious attack to date.

- 'Very scared' -

Russia's Kommersant newspaper reported that an "explosive device went off when he (Sarkisian) entered the building with security guards", adding that one of the guards had died.

Footage published by TASS showed a seriously damaged lobby hall with debris on the floor.

The red-brick high-rise building was closed off by police and a helicopter was seen arriving at the scene.

Andrei, a 37-year-old manager who was nearby at the time, said his colleagues had "jumped from their seats" at the sound of the blast, before going outside and seeing smoke.

The explosion was the second killing on the streets of Moscow in less than two months, with Kirillov dying after an explosive device attached to a scooter went off outside a residential building.

Olga Voronova, a 36-year-old mother of three who lived in the building next door to the explosion, was worried.

"I am very scared," she told AFP.

"I don't understand how this happened, we have quite serious security guards, they ask every car at the checkpoints, we order passes for guests, even for family members," the shaken woman said. "So I don't understand all this, it's very scary."

- Wanted by Kyiv since 2014 -

Russian media said Sarkisian had in 2022 formed a unit named "ArBAT" to fight against Ukraine.

According to the SBU, Sarkisian was "close" to Ukraine's ousted ex-leader Viktor Yanukovych and has been on a wanted list since 2014, accused of "organising murders" during Kyiv's pro-EU revolution.

The SBU said Sarkisian oversaw prisons in the occupied Donetsk region, from which he recruited convicts.

"Efforts are underway to bring the offender to justice for his crimes against Ukraine," it said in December.

Kommersant reported that the unit Sarkisian had formed was made up of "around 500 people", most of whom are ethnic Armenians.

According to Russian media, Sarkisian was born in Armenia but moved to east Ukraine's city of Gorlivka at a young age and also used the pseudonym of Armen Gorlovsky, a reference to the industrial city.

Gorlivka has been under pro-Russian separatist control since 2014.

Q.Szulc--GL