VLADIMIR Putin’s “death squad” chief has been killed after a £2million luxe Moscow apartment was blown up by a huge “Ukrainian” bomb.
Armen Sarkisyan – the creator of the pro-Putin Arbat battalion – was killed in the deadly blast on Monday.
![Armen Sarkisyan, founder of the Arbat stormtrooper battalion, sitting at a desk.](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/one-killed-four-wounded-deadly-968878011.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
![Aftermath of an explosion in a building, showing a shattered reception desk and a firefighter.](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/one-killed-four-wounded-deadly-968877954.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
![Damage to a building interior from an explosion.](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/one-killed-four-wounded-deadly-968877945.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
![Aftermath of an explosion in Moscow, with a fireman and bystanders.](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/one-killed-four-wounded-deadly-968877940.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
Sarkisyan, 46, was known for using his troops to fight in the battleground Donetsk region of Ukraine and Kursk region of Western Russia.
The “death squad” chief was in the Scarlet Sails apartment complex when the bomb was detonated – where a penthouse is valued at £2million.
He was rushed to hospital and reportedly died after falling into a coma, according to multiple Russian media outlets.
Sarkisyan had suffered severe head and chest wounds following the huge blast.
This Putin puppet paramilitary leader was believed to be the target of a Ukrainian led assassination.
One bodyguard was also killed in the blast and three others were injured, according to Reuters.
Terrifying images showed the damage caused the the apartment block’s lobby.
Glass was shattered and the ceilings had started to collapse.
Armenian-born Sarkisyan is considered by Kyiv to be one of the organisers of pro-Russian “titushki” gangs and “death squads” that hunted the participants of the Revolution of Dignity in Ukraine in 2014.
The paramilitary leader has also been described as an “associate” of the toppled pro-Putin former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, according to Ukraine’s SBU security service.
The SBU has previously revealed Sarkisyan had reportedly been appointed as “‘watcher’ of prisons in the occupied Donetsk region”.
It added: “He created the Arbat battalion from recruited convicts, who fought in the Torets direction, and later stormed the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kursk region.
“He is suspected of participating in illegal armed formations and aiding an aggressor state. The search and work to bring him to justice are ongoing.”
![Aftermath of explosion at Moscow's Alye Parusa complex.](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/one-killed-four-wounded-deadly-968878013.jpg?strip=all&w=931)
![Emergency responders attending to casualties following an explosion.](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/one-killed-four-wounded-deadly-968878019.jpg?strip=all&w=819)
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