Descent distance: the court began to consider the case of the terrorist attack in the "Scarlet Sails"

On June 15, the Second Western Military Court began considering the case of the terrorist attack in the Moscow residential complex "Scarlet Sails". In February 2025, the founder of the volunteer "Armenian Battalion" (ArBat), Armen Sargsyan, was killed in an explosion there, and four people were injured. The criminals used an anti-personnel mine, and additionally attached plastic explosives to it to enlarge the affected area. The TFR is confident that the terrorist attack was organized by the special services of Ukraine, hiring criminals for its execution, including boxing coach Varazh Manukyan (listed on the register of extremists and terrorists in the Russian Federation). According to investigators, he brought the mine to Moscow and handed it over to his accomplices. He was the only defendant in the dock. The investigation did not identify specific organizers, and the second perpetrator died during the terrorist attack.

A short hearing

Apart from numerous journalists, lawyers and the state prosecutor, only one of the victims, Armen Sarkissian's bodyguard Sergei Shkriabatovsky, who was seriously injured during the explosion, came to the first hearing of the case of the terrorist attack in Scarlet Sails. He categorically declined any comments.

Varazh Manukyan, a small, heavily built man, sat down on a bench after being led into the aquarium in handcuffs and froze for several minutes. Then, glancing at the sheet with his notes, he began talking quietly with his lawyer, Diana Sahakian.

Answering the judge's questions, he said that he was born in Yerevan, lived in Moscow on Vilis Latsis Street and worked as a boxing coach in Khimki. This effectively ended the open part of the trial — the public prosecutor, after identifying the defendant, filed a motion to close the hearing, explaining that the terrorist attack was organized by a group whose members are now either wanted or their identities have not been identified and the disclosure of these data would interfere with the investigation.

"The personal data of the victims will also be announced, so I ask you to close the trial for their safety," the prosecutor concluded.

The defendant and his lawyer were not against it.

"The information can be used as a lever of pressure on my client, because his relatives are in Armenia,— Manukyan's lawyer added.

After listening to the parties, the court eventually agreed to close the trial, and Sahakian's lawyer declined to comment during the technical break.

Months of preparation

A powerful explosion in the elite residential complex "Scarlet Sails" on Aviatsionnaya Street thundered on February 3, 2025, at about 10 a.m. Doors and windows on the ground floor of the building were blown out by the blast wave, and the floor and ceiling in the lobby were blown apart. At that moment, the founder of ARBAT, Sargsyan, was leaving the elevator surrounded by three bodyguards.

The direct perpetrator of the explosion, Paruyr Matevosyan, was waiting for him with a briefcase on the floor, where the explosive device was located. Sargsyan received multiple shrapnel wounds, his left foot was torn off. Although the wounded man was urgently hospitalized, he died in the hospital a few hours later without regaining consciousness. All three bodyguards were seriously injured. The blast also hit Daria Karseladze, a resident of the residential complex, who was diagnosed with an open neck wound and a broken leg.

The bomber died on the spot — he was actually torn apart. The identity of the deceased was established only by the fingerprint database. According to investigators, a tattoo in the form of a snake wrapped around a dagger was also found on one of the body fragments – it is made by criminal authorities.

Investigation version

The investigation of the terrorist attack was carried out by the metropolitan directorate of the TFR. The investigators found out that the explosive device was unusual — it was based on a regular army anti-personnel fragmentation mine MON-50. She throws a kilogram charge of metal balls down a narrow corridor and actually leaves nothing alive within a radius of 50 meters.

Moreover, clearly to strengthen the standard damage zone, the criminals equipped it with an additional charge of plasticite. But the most unexpected discovery was that, according to explosives experts, the mine was detonated remotely - that is, the initial version about the suicide bomber turned out to be incorrect. The investigation revealed that Matevosyan informed the organizers of the crime that Sargsyan was approaching him, accompanied by guards. At that time, one of the accomplices remotely detonated an improvised explosive device in the briefcase.

The criminals apparently decided to get rid of the direct perpetrator, considering that if he were in the epicenter of the explosion, his identity would be impossible to establish and this would complicate the search for the rest of the criminal group.

The intention to commit a terrorist act, according to the TFR, arose no later than March 2024, and its organizers were unidentified employees of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine (GUR).

They recruited two Armenian criminals. One of them, Varazh Manukyan, brought a mine to Moscow and handed it over to his accomplices.

After renting apartments in the Scarlet Sails and in a neighboring house, they spent several weeks monitoring the movements of the founder of ARBAT, conducting covert surveillance, studying his movement routes, security system, video and photography, choosing the most convenient place for a terrorist attack.

Moreover, on the eve of the explosion, Sargsyan's guards noticed a used foreign car that was driving behind their boss's car when he habitually went to steam in the Veshki sauna complex. A suspicious car also entered the territory of the complex — two unidentified people got out of it. But when they saw that Sargsyan's guards were heading towards them, the men disappeared.

Alerted to the incident, on February 3, Sargsyan left the apartment much later than usual, but this precaution did not save him.

The investigation is confident that the motive of the crime was revenge on Sargsyan for founding the Armenian Battalion in 2022. About 500 soldiers are currently serving in this special forces unit, taking an active part in their military operations. The Ukrainian authorities were also annoyed by the position of the battalion's founder, who always opposed the coup d'etat in Ukraine that took place in February 2014.

The criminal case of Paruyr Matevosyan was terminated due to his death. After his arrest, Varazh Manukyan was charged with committing a terrorist act as part of an organized group, as well as the illegal acquisition and sale of explosives.

Experts interviewed by Izvestia are confident that the punishment for the defendant will be extremely harsh. According to such articles and a similar set of crimes, the accused can receive a sentence of up to life, lawyer Alexander Lyashenko believes.

— If the guilt is proven and the defendant repents, assisted the investigation, identified accomplices, then he can expect a minimum sentence of 15 years. Otherwise, he faces a term up to life in prison," lawyer Alexei Pershin explained to Izvestia.

Potentially, the maximum penalty provided for in the Criminal Code is imposed for such a crime, his colleague Vladislav Yaskevich expressed his point of view.