Ukrainian separatist leader wanted by Kyiv seriously injured in blast in Moscow: Russian media

In what appears to be an assassination attempt, a blast in Moscow has injured a Ukrainian separatist leader wanted by Kyiv, according to Russian state media.

The AFP, quoting Russian media, identified the Ukrainian separatist leader as Armen Sarkisian, who had set up a battalion to fight the Ukrainian government. His condition has been described as serious.

The state media reported that the blast killed one person and injured three other person beside Sarkisian.

For more than a decade, Russia has supported an insurgency in Ukraine’s east where there is a concentration of ethnic Russians. After invading and annexing Crimea in 2014, Russia ramped up support to insurgents and helped their movement against Kyiv’s government.

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The blast occured at a luxury residential complex on Monday, according to reports in state media.

Interestingly, Russian media initially reported that Sarkisian had been killed but later said that he was injured and was undergoing treatment. The state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported: “Sarkisian is hospitalised in a severe condition, his leg will be amputated.”

While the specifics of the blast are not known, the agency quoted an official as saying that the blast was caused by an “explosive device” and that all the wounded were in a serious condition.

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Who is Armen Sarkisian?

Earlier in December, Ukraine’s SBU security service had declared Sarkisian as a suspect for “recruiting prisoners to fight against Ukraine”. It had described him as a “crime lord”.

Sarkisian is considered close to former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and has been on a wanted list since 2014, accused of “organising murders” during Kyiv’s pro-EU revolution, according to AFP.

Yanukovych is a pro-Russia leader who was ousted in 2014. He has since lived in Russia in exile.

Alleging that Sarkisian oversaw prisons in the occupied Donetsk region, from which he recruited convicts, the SBU said in December: “Efforts are underway to bring the offender to justice for his crimes against Ukraine.”

Sarkisian is the latest such person to be killed or harmed in Russia. In December, Ukraine had taken responsibility of the killing of Igor Kirillov, the Russian general in charge of country’s nuclear and chemical weapons protection forces, in a blast in Moscow. He was the highest-ranking officer to be assassinated since Russia started the war with Ukraine in 2022.