The founder of a pro-Russian militia group in eastern Ukraine, described by authorities in Kyiv as a “criminal mastermind”, has died following a bombing in central Moscow, according to Russian state media.

Armen Sarkisyan, the founder of a separatist battalion fighting in eastern Ukraine, died after an explosion in an apartment complex, according to reports citing the Russian authorities.

Armen Sarkisyan, a pro-Russian collaborator from Donetsk Oblast wanted by Ukraine, died in the hospital after being injured in an explosion in an elite residential complex in Moscow on Feb. 3, the state news agency TASS reported,