At least two people have died and three others have been injured on Monday by an explosion registered in a residential building located in the northwest of the Russian capital, Moscow, as reported by Russia’s emergency services. The authorities believe that the explosion was a selective murder since the explosive device detonated in the lobby of the elevator of the elite residential building.
Security forces have pointed out the explosion to respond to an attack whose objective was to kill the founder of the Arbat Battalion, Armen Sarkisián, whose troops are formed by volunteers fighting the Ukrainian forces in the Ukrainian province of Donetsk, according to information from the Russian News Agency Tass.
According to updated information, Sarkisián, also known as Armen Gorlovsky, was seriously injured as a result of the explosion. “Sarkisián has been hospitalized. His condition is considered extremely serious,” said the agency’s source. Sarkisián, who is president of the Boxing Federation of the Popular Republic of Donetsk (RPD), born in the city of Horlivka, in the Donetsk region, and of Armenian origin, was on the Kyiv search and capture list since 2014 for numerous crimes.
The deflagration took place at the entrance of a 29-storey building located on Aviatsionaya street. A building resident told the researchers that he recognized the victim on television and that the explosion occurred when the man entered the lobby accompanied by security guards.
After the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, Sarkisián – also president of the Boxing Federation of the self-proclaimed Republic of Donetsk – was entrusted with the creation of said battalion, as explained from Kyiv, which suggests that the first would have been linked to Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich. The Russian authorities have opened an investigation to determine the causes of what happened.
Among the injured is Oleg Kaspirovich, a Lieutenant Colonel of the Russian Interior Ministry of Crimea, 49 years old, which appears in the Mirotvorets database of Ukraine and is hospitalized at the Sklifosovsky Research Institute. It was also injured Daria Karseadze, 44, who suffered wounds in the neck and legs. Although she is aware, she cannot speak, according to medical reports.