The InformNapalm community continues the series of investigations in which we try to identify the Russian weaponry and equipment that were used in combat actions in Ukraine between 2014-2015. The main sources of the data are the Russian soldiers themselves. In some cases, information is leaked by civilians who got in the thick of actions. They cannot refrain from taking a picture in front of a military equipment without boasting. The following article contains a photo set which is ‘presented to us’ by the employees of the Russian military industrial sector. The pictures prove that the Russian 200th brigade took part in combats in Donbas in 2014. 

A profile of Mikhail Boyurov was found in VKontakte social network – on December 10, 2015, he uploaded a set of pictures that were taken in a period between August and September of 2014, during his ‘Ukrainian assignment’. On the basis of Boyurov’s photos, it can be concluded that he (together with other specialists from the Federal State Unitary Enterprise ‘775th artillery repair plant’) was sent to the conflict zone to provide repair and preventive maintenance of military equipment and weapons on the site.

General information: Mikhail Boyurov (profile archive, album archive, contacts archive). He was born on October 10, 1967, and now lives in St. Petersburg. Mikhail graduated from St. Petersburg High Command School of Air Defense in 1989.

Military service:

• 1989-1992 – crew commander (military unit No. 11127)
• 1992-2002 – deputy сommander for armaments (military unit No. 03724)

Career:

• 2002 – present time – 775th artillery repair plant (military unit No. 67678)

Some photos from August 29 till September 3 labeled ‘Driver’, ‘Brigade’, ‘Very close’, ‘Abandoned’ (archives  1, 2, 3, 4).

Note: Federal State Unitary Enterprise ‘775th artillery repair plant’ of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation was registered on December 21, 2011 in St. Petersburg, Marshal Blyukher Ave., 12. The main activities of the enterprise are:

• production and disposal of military equipment
• exploitation of petrol stations
• oil and oil derivatives storage
• international military cooperation (1, 2)

All the equipment shown in the pictures by Boyurov is organic to the 200th separate motorized rifle brigade of the Russian Navy (military unit No. 08275, Pechenga, Murmansk Oblast). According obtained information, as of September 2014, a battalion tactical group of this brigade was on ‘Rostov-Ukraine assignment’. One of the field camps deployed near the Ukrainian border in Kamensky raion (Rostov Oblast) was used as the springboard for this group’s raids in the Ukrainian territory. The first registration of the servicemen from this brigade was done on September 10, 2014. In November of 2014, InformNapalm published several articles proving that this tactical group took part in combat actions in Donbas, including one with evidence of the fact that a missile artillery unit of this brigade participated in shelling of the Ukrainian forces. This BTG also stuck in memory thanks to its ‘creativity’. The military equipment of this unit had a lot of soviet-style slogans, as for instance ‘For Stalin’, ‘Death to Fascists’, ‘Death to Aidar’, etc. That (and the photos by Boyurov) helped us to identify the appendage of these arms (also taking into account tactical signs, side numbers and so on).

The photos from Boyurov’s album uploaded and dated on August 14, 2014:

Border checkpoint ‘Izvaryne’ at the Ukrainian-Russian border. The comments say ‘Meantime in Russia…’ and ‘Near Kamensk-Shakhtinsk’ (archives 1, 2).

Note: it is well-known that ‘Izvaryne’ checkpoint has become a main gate for the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This has been numerously reported by volunteers of our community. In particular, check out Anton Pavlushko’s article from September 29, 2014: “Where did the troopers from Pskov go“.

The photos from Boyurov’s album (taken between August 11 untill September 29, 2014, and uploaded on December 10, 2015) show various Russian equipment:

• T-72B3 tanks with yellow triangles as tactical signs and side numbers ‘830’ (with inscription ‘LPR armor shield’) and ‘827’ (‘USSR, we are the power’). The pictures are from September 17, 2014 (archive 1, 2).

Tanks of the same unit with similar tactical signs and the side numbers from the 831st series (‘Death to Aidar’ and ‘For Stalin’) were registered by InformNapalm in the fall of 2014.

• ‘Strela-10’ air defense complex on the basis of MT-LB with an ‘Death to Fascists of Aidar’ inscription. The picture was taken on September 17, 2014 (archive 1).

• A convoy of KamAZ and MT-LB vehicles armed with NSVT ‘Utes’ machine guns. There is a label on the rear side of the last vehicle which says ‘Donbas was founded by Russians’. The other trucks have similar slogans (‘Russians founded cities…’, ‘DPR’). The photo was made on September 17, 2014. On the same day, a MT-LB with ‘hammer and sickle’ sign was registered (archives 1, 2).

• ‘Tunguska’ air defense complexes. The first complex with the re-drawn yellow side number ‘841’ and ‘For Motherland’, ‘For Stalin’, ‘Death to Junta’, ‘Sky sanctions’ labels on the right side. The inscriptions ‘Hello to Kiev pilots’, ‘For a clear sky’ on the left side. The second complex has side No. ‘840’ and no inscriptions. The pictures were taken between September 17-26, 2014 (archives 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6).

• Military helicopter Ka-52 ‘Alligator’, side No. ‘red 42’, tail No. ‘RF 91109‘. This helicopter belongs to a helicopter regiment located in Korenevsk (military unit No. 35666, Krasnodar krai) – the former 393rd military aviation base of the 4th Command of the Russian air forces. The photo was taken on September 17, 2014 (archive 1).

Helicopters of this type were registered in the areas in Rostov Oblast near the Ukrainian border in September of 2014 (at the times of Boyurov’s trip). “Russian Ka-52 “Alligator” Attack Helicopters near the Ukrainian Border“.

This is not the first time that the information is leaked by Russian military industrial sector employees. A group of specialists from the ‘Perm Repair Plant’  were spotted in Rostov Oblast in the fall of 2014 (please refer to our article ‘Troubleshooters from Ural at the front line‘).

There are other articles to be found about the 200th brigade in the context of the ‘Ukrainian trip’:

• The 200th Motorized Rifle Brigade of the Russian Navy’s North Fleet in Ukraine. September 10, 2014
• The Tour of Duty of the 200th Special Purpose Separate Motor Rifle Brigade of the Northern Fleet of the Russian Navy in Rostov Region and in Ukraine. November 26, 2014
• The Tour of Duty of the 200th Special Purpose Separate Motor Rifle Brigade of the Northern Fleet of the Russian Navy in Rostov Region and in Ukraine. Part 2. Basecamp. November 27, 2014

(CC BY)

Original article by Irakli Komakhidze, translated by Stepan Grishin