The founder of the "Arbat" battalion was killed in an explosion at an elite residential complex in Moscow.

On Monday, February 3, an explosion occurred in the residential complex "Scarlet Sails" in Moscow due to the detonation of a homemade device. Russian Telegram channels report one fatality and several injuries.

On Monday at approximately 9:45 AM Moscow time, a homemade explosive device detonated in the elite residential complex. It is known that one person has died as a result of the incident. Sources from the Telegram channel 112 claim that the victim was a man who entered the building with security guards at the time of the explosion.

“The concierge asserts that he had seen this man in the building before and several times on television,” the report states.

Additionally, five other residents sustained injuries. Russian Telegram channels note that the target of the explosion may have been 46-year-old Armen Sarkisyan – the founder of the Armenian battalion "Arbat," which fights alongside the Russian army in Ukraine.

In December 2024, the SBU notified Sarkisyan of suspicion under several articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, including voluntary participation in illegal armed formations or providing assistance to such formations in combat against the Armed Forces of Ukraine and aiding the aggressor state. He is wanted in Ukraine as one of the organizers of the killings on Maidan in February 2014. After the full-scale Russian invasion, he began seizing businesses in the occupied territories.

Initially, it was reported that he had died. However, Mash reports that Sarkisyan survived but is in critical condition.

Furthermore, Baza writes that another injured party is 49-year-old Oleg Kaspirovich, a former deputy commander of a special forces unit of the Crimean Territorial Command of the Interior Ministry. He betrayed Ukraine in 2014 by switching sides to Russia during the occupation of Crimea.

The post also added that the explosive device in the entrance could have been placed inside a sofa or chair located in the lobby. According to law enforcement, this aligns with the nature of the injuries sustained by the victims. Almost all the injured have leg injuries: two of the wounded have open fractures of the shins, and Sarkisyan reportedly had his leg torn off by the explosion.

Following the explosion, a criminal case was initiated in Russia for murder and attempted murder of two or more individuals. According to Russian sources, if a "Ukrainian trace" is found, the case will be reclassified as a terrorist act.

Updated at 12:30 PM. It later became known that Sarkisyan died in the intensive care unit without regaining consciousness.

Recall that on January 23, it was reported that two FSB agents died as a result of a car explosion in temporarily occupied Berdiansk.