Moscow apartment blast kills pro-Putin crime boss’

A pro-Putin paramilitary leader was killed in a bomb blast in the lobby of a luxury apartment building in Moscow, according to Russian authorities and news reports.

- TOM WATLING

Armen Sarkisyan, whom Ukraine has accused of aiding Russia's war in Donetsk, was targeted in the attack; he was critically injured and later died in hospital, according to the Kommersant newspaper.

Another person was killed and three others injured in the blast. State news agency Tass cited an unidentified law enforcement source as saying a bomb was planted in the building.

In December, Armenian-born Sarkisyan – who also ran a boxing federation – was charged in absentia by the Security Service of Ukraine with participation in illegal armed or paramilitary formations or assisting such formations in combat operations against its armed forces.

The agency, known as the SBU, has previously described Sarkisyan as a “crime boss” in the Donetsk region, which Russia has largely controlled since 2014. It accused him of recruiting prisoners to fight in Ukraine, cooperating with Russian security forces, and creating an armed formation known as “ArBAT” – or “Armenian Battalion”.