A senior pro-Russian paramilitary leader from eastern Ukraine has been killed in a bomb blast in the lobby of a luxury apartment building in Moscow.
The explosion happened as a man with bodyguards entered the Scarlet Sails complex in the capital, Russian media reported.
Footage released by Russia’s main investigative agency showed shattered glass doors and debris scattered around the building’s lobby.
Early reports said one person had died – possibly one of the bodyguards – and four others were wounded.
Footage showed the aftermath of the blast. Pic: AP
The attack targeted Armen Sarkisyan, who Ukraine has accused of aiding Russia’s war in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk.
He was critically injured in the blast and later died in hospital, according to the Kommersant newspaper.
Russian authorities said a criminal case had been launched into the explosion.
The attack “was carefully planned and was ordered,” a police official said, according to TASS. “Investigators are currently identifying those who ordered the crime.”
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Officers patrol near the site of the blast. Pic: Reuters
‘Crime boss’
Ukraine’s SBU intelligence service previously described Mr Sarkisyan as a “crime boss” in the Donetsk region, which Russia has largely controlled since 2014. It also said he was officially suspected of participating in and aiding “illegal armed groups”.
The SBU said Mr Sarkisyan had formed a pro-Russian military group made up of local convict fighters and organised purchases of supplies for frontline units.
In December, Ukraine claimed a bomb blast outside a Moscow apartment building that killed the Russian General Igor Kirillov.
It has not yet commented on the latest blast in Moscow.
