Russian authorities announced that an explosion at an apartment complex in Moscow has killed several people, including the founder of a battalion fighting alongside Russian forces in Ukraine.
The February 3 explosion is the latest in a wave of explosions and attacks, raising fears of a return to the gang violence that gripped the Russian capital in the 1990s.
Russia's state news agency, TASS, quoted authorities as saying the vehicle exploded at around 9:45 a.m. The vehicle was likely delivered to the Alye Parusa apartment complex by courier.
Among the victims was Armen Sarkisian, the founder of an Armenian-based military battalion that fought in Ukraine alongside Russian troops. The Interfax and TASS news agencies cited unnamed officials as saying he died after being taken to hospital in serious condition.
Witnesses said that at the time of the explosion, Sarkisian was seen walking down a hallway of the building toward a parking lot.
TASS quoted an unnamed law enforcement official as saying that this was likely an attempted murder.
No one has yet claimed responsibility for the explosion.
The Kommersant newspaper reported that his bodyguard, Oleg Kasperovich, was killed and another bodyguard was seriously injured.
The battalion that Sarkisian is said to have founded is called ArBat, now formally part of Redut, a mercenary network supported by Russian military intelligence.
Ukrainian authorities have accused Sarkisian of involvement in the violence of the Maidan street protests in Kiev in 2014.
According to Ukrainian media, he is also a close friend of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who fled to Russia after the Maidan protests in 2014.
In April 2018, Sarkisian was detained in France, where he was awaiting extradition to Ukraine. However, he was released after two days "on personal recognizance."
Monday's explosion is the second in recent months in the Russian capital that has shocked residents and raised fears of a return to the street violence that Moscow experienced during the 1990s.
In December, a senior general of Russia's chemical and biological weapons defense forces was killed when an electric scooter exploded on the sidewalk near his building. (A2 Televizion)
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