Audacious, Confident, Lethal

"We investigated [Armen] Sargsyan [aka Armen Gorlovsky], a criminal authority from Donetsk region ... co-operating with the FSB [Russian spy service]."

"The suspect 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 central Kyiv."

SBU, Ukraine's intelligence service 

Armen Sargsyan was taken to hospital by helicopter but died of his injuries following the blast          Getty Images

 

In yet another audacious display of Ukraine's ability to inveigle locals to become involved on Ukraine's behalf, who sympathize with Ukraine's counteroffensive against the Russian invasion of Ukraine and its subsequent levelling of much of the country as well as its responsibility for the deaths of tens of thousands of military personnel on both sides, as well as that of civilian populations, 46-year-old Armen Sargsyan was targeted lethally by an explosive device in northwest Moscow.

 

Sargsyan stood accused by Ukraine's secret services of planning and carrying out assassinations in Kyiv. Russian state news agencies announced news of the assassination on Monday. Sargsyan was initially critically inured by the blast. He was airlifted to a hospital, then died while in intensive care, according to Russian law enforcement officials.

 

The explosion at a residential complex located on the outskirts of Moscow occurred in the morning hours just as commuters were on their way to work. At least four people were reported to have been injured by the blast, including the  concierge of the Scarlet Sails residential complex. 

 

As head of the breakaway Donetsk People's Republic's Boxing Federation, and founder of the Arbat volunteer battalion, a paramilitary unit that fought in eastern Ukraine, Sargsyan was a marked man. Armenian by birth, he held Ukrainian citizenship and lived in Horlivcka, in Ukraine's eastern segment.

 

Ukraine's intelligence services, the SBU, kept an active file on Sargsyan. The Arbat battalion he founded fought near Toretsk, a city at the centre of fierce combat in eastern Ukraine. He was eventually transferred to the Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces launched an occupation through a surprise assault in the summer months, taking Russia off guard.

 

The blast, according to the Russian Telegram channel Mash, went off just as Sargsyan was in the act of exiting a lobby elevator in the building. Footage circulating on Russian channels show the force of the explosion that blew out the lobby and shattered the front entrance. Bomb disposal experts and sniffer dogs worked at the scene.

 

This most recent assassination by Ukraine, or pro-Ukrainian actors, more than adequately demonstrates Kyiv's capability in extending itself beyond the front lines, reaching deep into Russian territory. There have been a number of incidences of Kyiv's orchestrating lethal operations on Russian territory, and without doubt there will be more to come, unnerving Russian Moscovites and their leaders. 

Russian Emergencies Ministry firefighters, police officers and investigators work at the site of an explosion at the Aliye Parusa residential complex in Moscow, Russia on February 3, 2025.

Yuri Kochetkov/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

"Investigators and forensic experts from the Moscow Investigative Committee, together with operational services, are inspecting the scene of the incident."

"Investigative actions and operational-search activities are being conducted, aimed at establishing all the circumstances surrounding the incident."

GSU Telegram channel