by A.R. Fomenko
“Arms smuggling is up, retribution is on the agenda, and people are jockeying for power in a presumed post-war environment:” Soldier of Fortune publisher Susan Katz Keating.
VIENNA BUREAU – Who killed the Armenian warlord in Moscow, and why?
Officials in Russia reported on Monday that Armen Sarkisyan, who founded an ethnic Armenian fighting unit, died on Feb. 3 after a bomb exploded at a Moscow apartment complex. Unique to the report is that officials identified him only as the chief of a boxing commission.
The Russian Investigative Committee confirmed the death of Sarkisyan, “head of the Boxing Federation of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR)” according to TASS, the Russian state media outlet.
Aside from the boxing affiliation, Sarkisyan is credited with founding the ArBat group, which operates as part of Redut, a Russian military intelligence-backed fighting network. It is understood that he had been suspected of criminal activity in Kyiv.
The deadly device detonated at approximately 9:45 a.m. local time, and may have been delivered via courier to the upscale Alye Parusa complex.
According to local witnesses, Sarkisyan was seen walking down a hall inside the building just prior to the explosion.
The incident was the work of several assassins, authorities said.
“According to preliminary data, the plot to kill Sarkisyan involved multiple people,” a spokesman for law enforcement agencies told TASS. “They all had their designated roles. Some were tasked with keeping tabs on him, others with carrying out the explosion.”
It’s a particularly dangerous time in the shadow world in Russia and Ukraine, according to Soldier of Fortune publisher Susan Katz Keating.
“Arms smuggling is up, retribution is on the agenda, and people are jockeying for power in a presumed post-war environment.”
Not everything should be viewed entirely through the lens of war, she noted.
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“This is the latest in a series of unexplained explosions and shootings, stoking fears that Moscow could be sliding back into the type of gangland violence that we saw there in the 1990’s,” Keating said.
In the immediate aftermath of Monday’s incident, Russian authorities have launched a multi-pronged criminal investigation. This includes the attempted murder of two or more persons, murder by a common dangerous method, and illegal weapons trafficking.
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Meanwhile, security restrictions were imposed at the airports in three cities in Russia’s North Caucasus, the Federal Air Transport Agency said in a statement.
“Both arrivals and departures were suspended at the airports in Vladikavkaz, Grozny and Makhachkala at 7:44 a.m. Moscow time (4:44 a.m. GMT) in order to ensure the safety of civilian flights,” the statement reads. Officials did not specify how safety was at risk.
Two of those restrictions have since been lifted, authorities said.
A.R. Fomenko is based out of Soldier of Fortune’s Vienna Bureau.