A pro-Russian paramilitary leader from eastern Ukraine, Armen Sarkisyan, was killed on Monday when a bomb tore through parts of a luxury apartment block in Moscow, state news agency TASS and other Russian media reported.
TASS called the bombing a well-planned assassination.
The bomb detonated just as Sarkisyan, accompanied by his bodyguards, entered the basement of the "Scarlet Sails" complex on the banks of the Moskva River just 12 km (7 miles) from the Kremlin, according to Russian media.
One bodyguard was killed and three more injured, Kommersant newspaper said.
"The assassination attempt on Sarkisyan was carefully planned and was ordered. Investigators are currently identifying those who ordered the crime," TASS quoted a law enforcement official as saying.
Baza, a Telegram channel with contacts in Russia's security services, published video showing major damage to the building's lobby.
In December, Ukraine's SBU security service described Sarkisyan as a crime boss in the Donetsk region, much of which has been controlled by Moscow since 2014, and said that he was officially suspected of participating in and aiding "illegal armed groups".
It said he had formed a pro-Russian military unit made up of local convict fighters and had organised purchases of supplies for frontline units.
Mediazona, an independent Russian outlet that covers law enforcement, reported that Armenian-born Sarkisyan had been a longtime organised crime figure in the Donetsk region city of Horlivka.
In 2022, it said, he founded a pro-Russian paramilitary unit composed mostly of his fellow ethnic Armenians to fight against Kyiv's forces.
In December, Ukraine took credit for the killing of Russian General Igor Kirillov in a bomb blast outside a Moscow apartment building. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine on Monday's blast.
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A Russian guided aerial bomb has struck an apartment building in Kharkiv, injuring 22 people, including children, according to the city’s mayor. The strike follows a day of near-continuous Russian attacks across Ukraine that killed at least five people.
Here's your AnewZ Daily Brief for 28 September 2026. These are the top stories making headlines in technology.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan has arrived in Washington for talks with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on bilateral ties and key regional and international developments, Saudi state news agency SPA reported.
Serbia's President Aleksandar Vučić resigned on Sunday, ending his second and final five-year term and paving the way for an early presidential election as the country prepares for a snap parliamentary vote on 25 October.
U.S. President Donald Trump has denied reports that he offered Iran sanctions relief and access to frozen funds in exchange for nuclear concessions.
Freight on the Baku–Tbilisi–Kars railway could soon move faster across borders after Georgia, Azerbaijan and Türkiye signed a new customs protocol aimed at cutting delays and streamlining transit.
Afghanistan and Belarus have agreed to expand health cooperation, with a focus on medicines, medical equipment and training healthcare workers, following talks between the two countries’ health ministers in Minsk on Tuesday (29 September).
Saudi Arabia is facing a widening security challenge from Yemen as Houthi forces consolidate recent territorial gains along the Red Sea coast and step up attacks on the kingdom.
Afghanistan’s Ministry of Defence says its forces killed 28 fighters and captured 32 others in Nuristan after armed groups, including alleged Islamic State members, crossed the border from Pakistan on Saturday.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) says it has captured a second U.S. military unmanned underwater vehicle in the Strait of Hormuz, as tensions between Tehran and Washington remain high.
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