In result of another OSINT investigation we have discovered an artillery unit of the 291st separate artillery brigade (military unit No. 64670, Southern Military District, 58th army, stanitsa Totskaya, Republic of Ingushetia, Russia) which, regardless numerous Kremlin’s statements about the ‘impossibility of the Russian ground operation in Syria’, was transferred to this Middle East country within the unstated land mission in September of 2015.
In total 29 soldiers from the 291st artillery brigade sent to Syria with the ‘international mission’ have been found. Deployment of the unit (including the organic 2A65 ‘Msta-B’ 152mm howitzers) has been done via the sea from the Russian Black Sea Fleet’s naval base in Novorossiysk with the help of LPDs starting from September, 2015. The Middle East assignment is planned for 3-4 months with a possible prolongation. The personnel assigned to Syria mainly consists of newly-baked contract soldiers who had signed their contracts on a ‘voluntary-compulsory’ basis after 6-12 months of compulsory service in this artillery unit which has been already disclosed in our articles in the context of the ‘Rostov-Ukraine assignments’.
Let us remind you that in October of 2015 in “Russia Began a Concealed Ground Operation in Syria” article we made a reasonable assumption that the KamAZ-63501 artillery trucks together with the drawn ‘Msta’ howitzers noticed on march in near Al-Shelfatiyeh (Latakia province) could have belonged to the 291st brigade. A month later, our predictions were fully confirmed by the results of our OSINT investigation.
The Russian artillerists, disclosed by the InformNapalm’s scouts, are mainly registered to the North-West of Latakia. Based on the photo evidence, we can state that the 291st brigade’s units follow the ‘roving battery’ tactics, learnt in the summer and fall of 2014 during the hostilities in Donbas.
The area of responsibility of the 291st brigade covers the line of contact between the Assad’s army and the moderate opposition. The maximum firing range of a ‘Msta-B’ unit is 28.9 km. But since there are only the rebel forces within this range, it appears that the Russian artillery takes part in the Syrian civil war and not in the fight against ISIS.
Note: In those tough days the Russian artillery was massively shelling the Ukrainian forces and peaceful settlements, both from the Rostov Oblast, and from the territory of Ukraine during short raids, which has been reflected in a number of our publications (see 1 and 2).
The 291st brigade’s geo-referencing:
Aleksandr Shcherbakov unveiled his exact location on a photo (archive)
Aleksandr Makidonsky poses in front of a mountain (archive) – such landscape and flora can be found in close proximity to the abovementioned geotag from the picture of Aleksandr Shcherbakov. These are the coordinates on several examples of the map – 1, 2, 3.
Misha Lbov made a picture in front of a power line pylon and a woodline (archive), which are characteristic for this region. Here is a map showing this power line, the distance between the pylons and the geotag from Aleksandr’s photo is 20 km.
In the following picture (archive) Aleksandr Makidonsky and Aleksandr Shcherbakov are shown with green meadows and cypresses in background; one-storey buildings, sand and sandstones can be seen near them. Alike terrain is also found on the map not far from the mentioned geotag.
According to this picture (archive), Dmitry Chernyshev is apparently in a different place, supposedly at the artillery base located not far from the village of Al Hamrat and to the North of Shayrat airbase.
All the listed artillerists of the 291st brigade transferred to Syria have been disclosed and identified in the result of investigation of social statuses, comments, pictures, contacts, tags, etc. The common features which unite all these ‘internationalist-artillerists’ are duty station, alike photos, same equipment (including the desert uniform for the hot climate), informal outfit and Syrian cloths, hookahs, selfies with the locals, photos in olive woods, etc.
The list of 29 servicemen from the 291st artillery brigade in Syria:
1. Aleksandr Shcherbakov – a contract servicemen born in Volgograd on April 8, 1995. He has several selfies (1, 2) with geotags in his album – Qal’at Burze, to the North-East of Latakia (archives: profile, album, contacts).
2. Aleksandr Makidonsky – a contract serviceman (since 2013) born in Krasnodar. The real last name is supposedly Darzyan – he has a sister Gayane Darzyan (archives: profile, album, contacts)
3. Vladimir Chelyabinsk – a contract serviceman from Chelyabinsk (archives: profile, аlbum, contacts).
4. Dmitry Chernyshov – a contract serviceman from Vladikavkaz (archives – profile, album, contacts).
5. Aleksei Bukovskih – a contract serviceman from Shagonare born on December 8, 1993 (archives: profile, album, contacts).
6. Aleksei Zubov – a contract serviceman, born in Orenburg on July 1, 1995 (archives: profile, album, contacts).
7. Diman Zhuravlev – a contract serviceman, born in Samara on October 6, 1995 (archives: profile, album, contacts).
8. Misha Lbov – a contract serviceman, born in Perm on February 16 (archives: profile, album, contacts).
9. Dmitry Semashkov – a contract serviceman, born in Buguruslan on July 5, 1995 (archives: profile, album, contacts).
10. Vlad Filin – a contract serviceman, born in Vladivostok on November 8, 1995 (archives: profile, album, contacts).
11. Ivan Kasmynin – a contract serviceman, born on December 27, 1995 (archives: profile, album, contacts)
12. Vladimir Sorokin – a contract serviceman, born in Magnitogorsk on May 18 (archives: profile, album, contacts).
13. Maks Guryanov – a contract serviceman, born in Abdulino on February 9 (archives: profile, album, contacts). He supposedly has been on the ‘Ukrainian assignment’, which is justified by the pictures 8 and 9.
14. Vladimir Filippov – a contract serviceman, born in Volgograd on May 22 (archives: profile, album, contacts).
15. Stanislav Rostov – a contract serviceman since August, 2014. He was born in Volgodonsk (archives: profile 1 and 2, album 1 and 2, contacts). Allegedly, he has participated in the war in Ukraine – at least this is proved by the photos on the wall of his profile (see the archive of profile 1, the original picture has been deleted). Sadder but wiser he does not post photos from the abroad trips any more. But a geotag on a photo of his brother-in-arms Rostislav Andreev disclosed the fact of his previous ‘Ukrainian assignment’ (mentioned later).
16. David Mhitaryan – a contract serviceman, born in Krasnodar on March 20, 1994 (archives: profile, album, contacts). This soldier also has no pictures from the abroad trips in his profile, Rostislav Andreev let him down as well.
17. Tema Nasonov – a contract serviceman from Rostov-on-Don (archives: profile, album, contacts). Same story with Rostislav Andreev.
18. Aleksei Dreiman – a contract serviceman, born on May 31, 1990 (archives: profile, album, contacts). He has a status saying “90 days to go”, which might mean the term of the assignment. No photos from the war in Ukraine, but we should again thank Rostislav Andreev.
19. Vadim Koval – a contract serviceman, born in Izobilniy on April 18, 1996 (archives: profile, album, contacts).
20. Vanya Zimin – a contract serviceman, born in Tomsk on March 31, 1996 (archives: profile, album, contacts).
21. Vlad Musienko – a contract serviceman, born in Krasnodar on April 11, 1996 (archives: profile, album, contacts).
22. Dzharudin Aliev – a contract serviceman (archives: профиль, album, contacts).
23. Pavel Kuzmin – a contract serviceman, born in Arkhangelsk on August 9, 1991 (archives: profile, album, contacts).
24. Aleksandr Karatnik – a contract serviceman, born in Kotlas on June 28, 1994 (archives: profile, album, contacts).
25. Artem Badambaev – a contract serviceman, born on MArch 1, 1989 (archives: profile, album, contacts).
26. Dmitry Nasonov – a contract serviceman, born on August 24, 1994 (archives: profile, album, contacts).
27. Nikolai Efremov – supposedly the battery commander (archives: profile, album, contacts).
28. Andrei Sokolov – a contract serviceman from Moscow (archives: profile, album, contacts).
29. Aleksandr Fedorov – a contract serviceman, born in Mineralnye Vody on March 10 (archives: profile, album, contacts).
Note: besides the listed above Russian servicemen from the 291st artillery brigade on ‘the Syrian assignment’ we should highlight a few soldiers who have drawn our attention:
- Rostislav Andreev – a contract serviceman starting from September of 2014. He was born in the village of Ivanovka (Volgograd Oblast) on November 25 (archives: profile, album, contacts). The ‘clown’ Andreev plays a special role in the identification of the artillerists from the Troitskaya’s brigade, since they were tagged in the “My soul is with you, Brothers!” post (check out the archive, please scroll).
- Vladimir Ponomarev – a contract serviceman, born in Krasnodar on June 25, 1995 (archives: profile, album, contacts). He might has participated in the ‘Ukrainian assignments’.
- Andrei Naumov – a contract serviceman, born in Tuapse on November 14 (archives: profile, album, contacts). He might has participated in the ‘Ukrainian assignments’.
Reference: the 291st separate artillery brigade is the military unit No. 64670, located in stanitsa Troitskaya (Republic of Ingushetia, Russia). It was transferred to Troitskaya from Maykop (Republic of Adygea) in the first half of 2011. The unit is a part of the 58th general army of the Southern Military District. As of 2009 it had 8x 9P140 ‘Uragan’ MRLS units, 36x 2A65 ‘Msta-B’ 152mm howitzers, 6x MT-12 100mm anti-tank cannons, 18x 9P149 ‘Shturm-S’ anti-tank cannons. Also 9M123 ‘Khrizantema’ anti-tank missile complexes were planned to be taken into the service. There are about 500 people of personnel. Colonel Kazakov Sergei Vyacheslavovich was the commander of the brigade at the end of 2014 (links 1, 2, 3, 4).
The assigned personnel consists of:
- barrack 1: artillery reconnaissance battery, engineer-sapper platoon, NBC protection platoon, training complex
- barrack 2: anti-tank artillery division
- barrack 3: 2nd heavy howitzer division
- barrack 4: 2nd heavy howitzer division
- barrack 5: control battery, firing squad, post service
- barrack 6: materiel and technical support company
- barrack 7: 1st heavy howitzer division
- barrack 8: 1st heavy howitzer division
- barrack 11: motorized rifle company No. 9
- barrack 12: motorized rifle battery No. 3, recon platoon
Besides the 291st brigade, Troitskaya also hosts so-called ‘Ingush national battalion’ – a company/battalion tactical group from the 19th motorized rifle brigade (military unit No. 20634, Vladikavkaz, Northern Ossetia).
P.S. : InformNapalm team understands that after this publication the Kremlin officials will raise another hysteria over the publication of personal data on the Russian servicemen, as it was with the bomber pilots. In this case, we want to emphasize that all of the information presented by us, is the result of the study of public sources, including social networks, where imprudent Russian military left a sufficient number of traces and clues.
Other articles on this topic:
The 291st artillery brigade
- Armed Forces of Russian Federation Spotted along the Ukrainian Border and in Donbas, August 26, 2014
- Units of the Russian Armed Forces Which Have Been Deployed to Fight in Eastern Ukraine September 19, 2014
- Identification of Military Units and the Armament of Artillery Elements of the Russian Invasion Forces, September 30, 2014
- 291st artillery brigade’s “Tour of duty” from Crimea to Donbass, November 12, 2014
- Russia. Photos of Positions of Russian Artillery Shelling Ukraine in 2014, April 5, 2015
- ‘Novorossiya’ Militant’s Contract Was Finalized in Military Recruiting Office of Volgograd, Russia, October 7, 2015
- Russia Began a Concealed Ground Operation in Syria, October 29, 2015
Syrian assignment of the Russian forces (without aviation component)
- Russian Military Assignment from Novorossiysk to Syria, September 4, 2015
- Russian ‘Solntsepyok’ Heavy Flamethrower Systems Were Noticed in Syria, October 12, 2015
- Russia Began a Concealed Ground Operation in Syria, October 29, 2015
- https://informnapalm.org/en/russia-s-minister-of-defense-shoygu-sent-his-countrymen-to-syria/, November 2, 2015
- It Is Hard To Survive in Syria Without A Passport. Russian 28th Brigade in Syria, November 10, 2015
- Russia Mired in the Ground Operation in Syria. Russian Servicemen Are in Hama Province, November 10, 2015
- Russian Marines of the Baltic Fleet’s 336th Brigade Got Lost in As-Suwayda Province, Syria, November 17, 2015
- Russia Deploys Another Military Base in Syria December 1, 2015
- War in Syria: Russia Paved Its Way to the Ground Operation Through the Sea, December 2, 2015
More articles about ‘Syria‘ on InformNapalm
(CC BY)
Original article translated by Stepan Grishin
25 Responses to “East Is a Delicate Matter: 29 Servicemen from 291st Artillery Brigade in Syria”
12/20/2015
Los crímenes de guerra de la 291a Brigada de la artillería de las Fuerzas Armadas rusas en una guerra híbrida contra Ucrania. Parte 1 - InformNapalm.org (Español)[…] East Is a Delicate Matter: 29 Servicemen from 291st Artillery Brigade in Syria. 7 diciembre de 2015 […]
12/21/2015
War Crimes of Russian 291st Brigade in War Against Ukraine. Part 2 - InformNapalm.org (English)[…] East Is a Delicate Matter: 29 Servicemen from 291st Artillery Brigade in Syria, December 7, 2015 […]
12/24/2015
Tracking Down the Russian 66th Signal Brigade: from Donbas to Syria - InformNapalm.org (English)[…] military units deployed to the Middle East, but also the names of the Russian pilots-criminals and artillerists who (together with the criminal regime of al-Assad) kill the peaceful Syrian population. Also we […]
01/01/2016
Ryska 291:a artilleribrigadens krigsförbrytelser i Ukraina – del 1 – InformNapalm på svenska[…] 2015. I november 2015, tack vare våra undersökningar av öppna källor, visade det sig att vårt antagande var korrekt. Den här artikeln öppnar nya fakta för 291:a artilleribrigadens deltagande i kriget i Donbass. […]
02/18/2016
In Full View: InformNapalm Exposes Russian Propaganda Fudge on Syria. Stale Sensations Analyzed - InformNapalm.org (English)[…] men, the Msta-B battery, the deployment site. They lead us to another InformNapalm investigation: East Is a Delicate Matter: 29 Servicemen from 291st Artillery Brigade in Syria. These hapless gunmen, who like to have their pictures taken with exotic Syrian scenery in the […]
03/09/2016
Russian Soldier from the 200th Brigade Disclosed His Unit's Disposition in Syria - InformNapalm.org (English)[…] As you may recall, in December of 2015 InformNapalm’s volunteers already registered detachments from the 291st artillery brigade in this region (more information). […]
03/09/2016
En soldat från den ryska 200 artilleribrigaden avslöjar sina positioner i Syrien – InformNapalm på svenska[…] I december 2015 observerade InformNapalms volontärer en uppdelning av 291 artilleribrigaden. […]
03/19/2016
Kartläggning av den ryska 66 signalbrigaden, från Donbass och vidare till Syrien – InformNapalm på svenska[…] militära enheter som utplacerats i Mellanöstern – utan också namnen på ryska piloter och artillerister som [tillsammans med den kriminella Assadregimen] dödar den syriska civilbefolkningen. Vi har […]
03/30/2016
Sur les traces de la 66e Brigade : du Donbass à Homs en Syrie - InformNapalm.org (Français)[…] Orient, mais aussi nous avons listé les noms des criminels russes, ces pilotes des bombardiers et les tireurs de l’artillerie, qui , conjointement avec le régime criminel de Bachar al-Assad détruisent la population civile […]
03/30/2016
120th Artillery Brigade of Russian Army near Palmyra - InformNapalm.org (English)[…] East Is a Delicate Matter: 29 Servicemen from 291st Artillery Brigade in Syria […]
03/31/2016
Syrian Dividends of Russian Army 291st Artillery Brigade Soldiers - InformNapalm.org (English)[…] research that confirmed Russian artillery units’ participation in the Syrian military campaign: East Is a Delicate Matter: 29 Servicemen from 291st Artillery Brigade in Syria. After the publication, we saw another proof of our results: social profiles of the Russian […]
04/01/2016
Russiske hærens 120 artilleribrigade i nærheten av Palmyra - InformNapalm på norsk[…] 29 Servicemen from the 291st Artillery Brigade in Syria ∙ En soldat från den ryska 200 artilleribrigaden avslöjar sina positioner i […]
04/01/2016
Ryska arméns 120 artilleribrigad nära Palmyra - InformNapalm på svenska[…] 29 Servicemen from the 291st Artillery Brigade in Syria ∙ En soldat från den ryska 200 artilleribrigaden avslöjar sina positioner i […]
09/05/2016
Dynasty of Russian War Criminals 2: "Thank You Daddy" - InformNapalm.org (English)[…] Artillery Brigade, who were “paying their international duty” in Syrian Arab Republic, see East Is a Delicate Matter: 29 Servicemen from 291st Artillery Brigade in Syria (some “heroes” of the publication were also spotted in “Ukrainian business […]
10/29/2016
InformNapalm chronikos: Rusija jau visus metus naikina Siriją - InformNapalm.org (Lietuvių)[…] East Is a Delicate Matter: 29 Servicemen from 291st Artillery Brigade in Syria […]
01/02/2017
Les marines russes du 879e Bataillon d'Assaut en Syrie - InformNapalm.org (Français)[…] District militaire du Sud : 34e Brigade motorisée , 7 Base militaire , 291th brigade d’artillerie et 66e Brigade de […]
05/01/2017
Ryska 291:a artilleribrigaden utrustas med Tyulpan bandkanon[…] 29 mercenaries from the 291th Artillery Brigade fighting in Syria […]
05/04/2017
Artillerister från Tamans 2:a motoriserade infanteridivision i Syrien - InformNapalm på svenska[…] militärområdet: 34:e motoriserade skyttebrigaden, 7:e krigsbasen, 291:a artilleribrigaden, 66:e […]
05/12/2017
USA förbryllas av ryska uttalanden och handlingar i Syrien - InformNapalm på svenska[…] militärområdet: 34:e motoriserade skyttebrigaden, 7:e krigsbasen, 291:a artilleribrigaden, 66:e […]
06/20/2017
Las 81 personas de la 291a brigada de la artillería: las órdenes criminales del Kremlin (Infografía) - InformNapalm.org (Español)[…] Sólo en las publicaciones de la comunidad internacional de inteligencia InformNapalm la 291a brigada se aparece 13 veces (!) – es la geografía y la cronología de los acontecimientos, los bombardeos de Ucrania desde la acera o desde el territorio de Ucrania en verano – otoño de 2014, lo que condujo a la muerte de cientos de ciudadanos de Ucrania. Más tarde – “los viajes de negocios de Ucrania”, así como la participación de los artilleros del compuesto de Ingushetia en la guerra de Siria. […]
07/01/2017
Identified: Russian contract soldier of 291st Artillery Brigade in Novorossia illegal armed groups - InformNapalm.org (English)[…] East Is a Delicate Matter: 29 Servicemen from 291st Artillery Brigade in Syria, 2015-12-07 […]
07/19/2017
82 artillerister från 291:e brigaden som utför Kremls brottsliga order i Ukraina[…] Den 291:e artilleribrigaden (58:e fälthären, militärenhet 64670, byn Troitskaya, Ingusjetien) i det sydliga militärdistriktet är förmodligen den ryska arméns mest märkliga artillerienhet. Den har blivit belyst i många av InformNapalms OSINT-undersökningar. Den 291:a brigaden har presenterats i 13 artiklar med beskrivning av geografi, kronologi av händelser, beskjutning av ukrainskt territorium från Ryssland och inträngande på ukrainskt territorium under sommaren och hösten 2014. Detta har lett till hundratals ukrainska medborgares död. Brigadens personal också varit utplacerad i Syrien. […]
07/25/2017
Ryska truppers rotation mellan Donbass och Syrien[…] 291:a Artilleribrigaden […]
09/20/2017
Korrupta general Gurulev röjs av soldater från den ryska 136:e Brigaden[…] har redan mött Badambayev i det förflutna, eftersom hans namn var № 25 i en tidigare OSINT-undersökning från december 2015 där vi lämnade personuppgifter om 29 kontraktsoldater från 291:a […]
10/09/2017
Befälhavaren för Nordflottans 61:a Marininfanteribrigad minsprängd i Syrien[…] militärdistriktet: 34:e Infanteribrigaden, 7:e Militärbasen, 291:a Artilleribrigaden, 66:e Signalbrigaden, 136:e […]