“Abrek” Gasparyan, planning Pashinyan coup, killed in Ukraine

Hayk Gasparyan, callsign “Abrek,” commander of the "Armenian Battalion" ("ArBat"), has been killed in combat in Ukraine, according to Ivan Prikhodko, self-proclaimed mayor of Horlivka.

Prikhodko expressed condolences on Telegram, announcing that Gasparyan, commander of was killed in action today, Caliber.Az reports.

The “ArBat” battalion, also known as the “Armenian Battalion,” is part of the international “Pyatnashka” brigade and was founded in 2022 by Armen Sarkisyan, who later died in an explosion at the “Alye Parusa” residential complex in Moscow in February 2025.

In summer 2023, “ArBat” signed a contract with the Russian Ministry of Defence, with Gasparyan appointed as its commander. He had previously served in the Wagner PMC. In 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin awarded Gasparyan the Medal “For Courage.”

In 2024, the Armenian Investigative Committee revealed a criminal group planning a coup. 

Some Armenian citizens were reportedly recruited and sent for three-month military training at the “ArBat” base in Rostov-on-Don, with the alleged real goal of seizing power. 

Several recruits refused to participate and returned to Armenia. Gasparyan dismissed the accusations, calling them “propaganda directed against Russia.”

By Jeyhun Aghazada