"Armen Horlivskyi": henchman of Ivanyushchenko, "titushky" general, and murderer

One of the many mistakes of the "Orange Revolution" was that the people who defeated Kuchma’s clique, among other things, forgot how regional Maidans were dispersed, who mutilated civil activists, beat journalists and international observers.

Soon enough, these bandit gangs raised their heads again. They took up knives and baseball bats when the Euromaidan began. They once again kidnapped, tortured, and murdered activists. The shadows of their militants are still seen during anti-Ukrainian rallies in Donbass.

Terror on the streets of Kyiv

Today, April 3, a joint briefing by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Security Service of Ukraine, and the Prosecutor General’s Office took place regarding the investigation of the mass murders on February 18, 19, and 20. Law enforcement officers uncovered a lot of interesting information.

From the mouth of the chief policeman Arsen Avakov, one surname was mentioned: Sarkisyan. He is also known as "Armen of Horlivka," previously featured in our publications. According to the minister, it was Sarkisyan’s gang that operated in Kyiv on the night of February 18 to 19 near St. Michael’s Square. According to Avakov, at least five people died there. Among them was the journalist Vyacheslav Veremiy.

Late in the evening of February 18 in Kyiv, at the intersection of Volodymyrska and Velyka Zhytomyrska Streets, in front of the restaurant "Chorne Porosya," unknown men with bats and weapons, in helmets, camouflage, and black masks, attacked the correspondent of "Vesti" Vyacheslav Veremiy and IT specialist of the company Oleksiy Lymarenko.

Employees of "Vesti" were returning home from work by taxi. When the car stopped at a traffic light, men ran out from the alley and began to sway and throw Molotov cocktails at the car. They pulled the taxi driver, Vyacheslav, and Oleksiy out of the car and brutally beat them. The driver sustained serious leg injuries. Oleksiy’s face was disfigured. They were given first aid. Vyacheslav was shot in the abdomen. He died in the hospital from injuries incompatible with life.

According to the minister, Armen’s militants "distinguished themselves" in Mariinsky Park. Three people were killed there.

Donetsk Antimaidan

A month before the Maidan massacre, on January 19, around 50 thugs attacked participants of Euromaidan in Donetsk: they beat people, broke flagpoles, and chanted "Fascists out!" The police did not detain the attackers but instead took the organizers of the peaceful protest to the police station.

The attackers were organized by people from the Armenian diaspora in Horlivka, namely businessman and vice-president of the Donetsk Boxing Federation Armen Sarkisyan, considered the "overseer" of Horlivka for the "regional" Yuriy Ivanyushchenko. This was concluded by Donetsk journalist and blogger Frankenstein, after analyzing photos and videos from the scene.

"The thugs insulted and provoked motorists who got out of their cars, journalists... Their actions were led by a man with a Caucasian accent who spoke poorly in Russian and managed to be rude to journalists and set an aggressive tone. He stopped the thugs if they became too aggressive and occasionally communicated with someone on the phone, reporting on the situation," writes the blogger.

The Caucasian turned out to be the head of the Donetsk regional Armenian society Gagik Agavelyan, a businessman from Horlivka.

Agavelyan is considered to be Armen Sarkisyan’s man, an influential businessman from Horlivka. Sarkisyan constantly financially supports the Armenian diaspora.

In the video and photos next to Agavelyan is Eduard Polepkin, also a businessman from Horlivka, director of the local nightclub "Zephir," a business partner, and friend of Armen Sarkisyan. At the rally in Donetsk, Polepkin tore the Ukrainian flags from the hands of protestors, broke the flagpoles, and verbally abused the participants of the rally.

Polepkin himself has repeatedly declared his close ties with Armen Sarkisyan.

Armnen Sarkisyan himself was present, but he could only be spotted in photographs. Here he is in a cap and light jacket in the back row. He came only for a few minutes and quickly left.

A few days later, on January 27, Armen’s militants found themselves in several comical situations.

In an attempt to demonstrate a worthy rebuff to the "radicals," the then Donetsk authorities outdid themselves. Due to the absence of an active Euromaidan, the homeland of the now fugitive president decided to stage an attempted seizure of the regional state administration and suppression of the assault.

This was detailed by the same Frankenstein.

Since January 26, rumors spread around the city that the local administration would be stormed. The Party of Regions, in response, decided to seemingly protect the administration building and called their supporters to it. Besides budgetary workers and costumed Cossacks, probably rewarding themselves for participating in the rally with another fake medals, grim young fighters in sports hats and down jackets, who were given the main role, also gathered for the rally.

The guys grouped into two teams. One had St. George ribbons on their hands, and the other had red ribbons. In the midst of the rally, these two groups naturally started beating each other, even using baseball bats.

The above-mentioned boxers from Horlivka fought for one team, and the guys from Avdiivka and Yasynuvata for the other. There were no political arguments between the thugs; they simply cursed and chased each other as in some sort of brawl.

Despite the fight being staged, some individuals got hurt. In this photo, a guy from Avdiivka, who apparently had worked in the police before, was recognized by acquaintances. He got hit in the head with a bat. I wonder how much he was paid for this?

Moreover, peaceful Yanukovych supporters who just came to the Party of Regions rally also got hurt. Some thug unprovokedly punched this man in the jaw. In reality, the man became a victim of officials whom he had come to support. He ended up in the epicenter of chaos incited by the authorities.

The thugs began to run along the main street, chasing each other, waving bats, and jumping in front of cars. A real frenzy ensued. The "Berkut" did not beat or obstruct anyone during this, showing absolute pacifism.

Portrait of a "Hero"

So who is this hero of Antimaidan who supplied militants to support the bloody Yanukovych regime, which has now sicced a country with a huge nuclear potential and a psychopath president on Ukraine?

Armen Sarkisyan is the vice-president of the Donetsk Boxing Federation, owner of the nightclub "Zephir," the restaurant "Hostynnyi Dvir," and the Krasnoarmiysk Machine-Building Plant.

Incidentally, last year a street named after Armen Sarkisyan’s father, Nagapet Sarkisyan, appeared in Horlivka. The city council deputies made this decision. Only the communists opposed, as the street previously bore the name of the revolutionary Klokov. According to deputies, all the residents of the street (a total of 6 houses) expressed support for the renaming. Why these people suddenly wanted to live on Sarkisyan Street is anyone’s guess.

The site gorlovka.ua praises this character as follows:

"Sarkisyan is an informal leader; his presence in his native Horlivka is often limited to a couple of days. Yet, he influences political processes in the city.

His closeness to Yuriy Ivanyushchenko and his own authority in the eyes of natives from Yenakiieve, who currently hold high posts in the state apparatus or business, allow him not to consider the mayor and take steps to remove him from office.

Sarkisyan’s ambition is evidenced by his cars and residential area: he is probably the only one in Horlivka driving luxury Maserati, Range Rover, and Maybach cars and has built a luxurious mansion in recent years. However, he has not been noted in any serious social projects, except for helping children and building a church on Gagarin Street.

He explains his position as follows: "If some prefer to spend money in casinos or other expenses, then we spend it on children, youth, so they learn good things, get toughened."

Sources close to law enforcement describe Sarkisyan less attractively:

"Armen began his criminal activity in the late 90s in Horlivka, in the Kalyninskyi district. The group’s core consisted of Armen, Gocha, and Rulet. Considering that by then the former head of the Horlivka police division Yuriy Shrubyanyets had imprisoned all of Horlivka’s groups ("Voloshyntsi," "Kovbasnyky," "Yenakiivski"), Armen effectively remained the only leader in Horlivka.

Armen Sarkisyan was not crowned, he is the "overseer" of Horlivka for Yuriy Yenakiyevskyi. His headquarters is the "Hostynnyi Dvir" restaurant. There, on Saturdays and Sundays, he receives criminal authorities and collects money from them for the "common fund." He is the vice-president of the Horlivka Boxing Federation. He maintains a close relationship with the promotional company "Union Boxing Promotion," headed by Hennadiy Uzbek, Yuriy Ruban, and Dmytro Yelisyeyev. Uzbek, Ruban, and Yelisyeyev used to be featured in "ORD." In Horlivka, Armen Sarkisyan is feared by the heads of law enforcement agencies, with whom he shares money from the "common fund." His friend is Pavlo Panasyuk, a police colonel, and the head of the Horlivka Department of Internal Affairs. If the officers work poorly, he says he’ll leave them to be torn apart by Armen’s boys.

Armen is characterized as a smart and ruthless bandit. The "Artemvuhillya" coal holding found itself in his criminal field of activity. He and Yuriy Ivanyushchenko siphoned off millions of budget funds from there for a long time. During the Maidan events, he was involved in organizing and transporting militants to Kyiv. He is now one of the organizers of the separatist movement in Donetsk."

Hunting down Don Anisim

Armen Sarkisyan’s name recently surfaced in the context of tougher cases, to be blunt, openly "wet" ones.

On August 15 last year, around 11:00 PM, Yevhen Anisimov left his office on Patriotic Street in Zaporozhzhya, got behind the wheel of a Mercedes jeep, and, accompanied by guards in another similar SUV trailing behind, headed towards the embankment. On the descent in front of the "Rybatsky Stan" restaurant, the road was blocked by a "Land Cruiser," and an automatic burst was heard.

The shooting was conducted from two positions. Anisimov was saved by the fact that the killer’s gun jammed, as he tried to shoot toward the driver’s side of the car. Later, forensic experts counted over 20 bullet holes in Anisimov’s car.

Later, the site "Provocation" reported that the organizer of the shooting of the convoy of the "overseer" Yevhen Anisimov in Zaporozhzhya, Armenian Artashes Sargsyan (Artash), fled far from the authorities and "turncoats in uniform" to the territory of Donetsk’s Horlivka.

According to informed sources, Artashes Sargsyan, heading the Armenian organized crime group, fled Zaporizhzhya immediately after August 15, when two of Anisimov’s and his guards’ SUVs were shot at.

In Horlivka, Artash was under the protection of the head of the local Armenian ethnic group Armen Sarkisyan (Armen of Horlivka).

This detail is no less important. Because according to one version considered by experts, Yuriy Yenakiyevskyi might have been interested in Anisim’s failed assassination.

Instead of an epilogue

At the briefing mentioned at the beginning, the Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov recalled an important detail: during the tragic February events, Armen’s militants’ gathering point was the Kyiv office of Ivanyushchenko. From this, we can conclude that Yuriy Yenakiyevskyi was personally involved in a punitive operation sanctioned by Yanukovych.

CRIME.in.UA