Bomb blast kills at least one person at Moscow apartment building in assassination attempt
MOSCOW – A bomb tore through the lobby of a luxury apartment block in Moscow on Monday, killing at least one person and injuring four others in an attack targeting a pro-Russian paramilitary leader from eastern Ukraine, the state TASS news agency reported.
The bomb detonated just as a man with bodyguards entered the lobby of the “Scarlet Sails” complex on the banks of the Moskva River just 12 km (7 miles) from the Kremlin, according to Russian media.
TASS, citing law enforcement services, called the blast an “assassination attempt” and identified the suspected target as Armen Sarkisyan, the head of the Boxing Federation of the Donetsk People’s Republic.
“The assassination attempt on Sarkisyan’s life was carefully planned. Investigators are currently establishing the customers of the crime,” the source said.
RIA, another state news agency, cited law enforcement as saying that Sarkisyan was in a critical condition, and that part of his leg was being amputated.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine on Monday’s blast.
In December, Ukraine took credit for the killing of Russian General Igor Kirillov in a bomb blast outside a Moscow apartment building.
