Criminal mastermind from Donbas killed in Moscow — media

On February 3, powerful explosions occurred in an elite residential complex in Moscow. Five people were injured and one died. Propagandists suggest that it is the president of the Boxing Federation of the so-called "Donetsk People's Republic".

This is reported by the Russian media.

Explosions in Moscow on February 3

Update 10:40 a.m. Russian media reported that Sargsyan was not killed but seriously injured in the explosion in the residential complex.

On the morning of February 3, an explosion occurred in the elite Moscow residential complex Alye Parusa. Russian public media reported that a grenade had allegedly exploded.

Soon it became known that one person was killed and five others were injured in the explosion.

Russian propagandists claimed that Armen Sargsyan, better known as "Armen of Horlivka", could have been killed in the explosion in Moscow.

As you know, he is the president of the Boxing Federation of the so-called DPR and the founder of the Arbat battalion.

What is known about Sargsyan

In December 2024, Ukrainian law enforcement officers served Sargsyan and his two deputies with a notice of suspicion of collaboration with the Russian occupiers.

"We have managed to document new crimes of Armen Sarkisyan, a criminal mastermind from the Donetsk region, who is hiding in the temporarily occupied part of the region and is cooperating with the FSB. The man is known as Armen of Horlivka, he is a member of the inner circle of fugitive President Viktor Yanukovych and has been on the international wanted list since May 2014 for organizing murders in the center of Kyiv," Security Service of Ukraine reported.

It should be noted that after the outbreak of the full-scale war, Sargsyan received a task from the FSB to create a new armed formation for the war against Ukraine. That's how the Arbat Battalion was created. According to law enforcement agencies, the basis of this formation is made up of repeat offenders convicted of murder and other serious crimes.

At first, Arbat fought in the Toretsk sector, and later the occupation group was redeployed to the Kursk region.

The man was charged under several articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine:

• voluntary participation in illegal armed or paramilitary groups, or providing assistance to such groups in conducting hostilities against the Armed Forces of Ukraine;
• aiding the aggressor state committed by an organized group of persons by prior conspiracy.

Earlier, on January 31, drones struck a refinery and oil depot in Volgograd. It is known that this refinery covers a large area of several square kilometers and is located in an industrial zone.