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    Embarrassment for Russia With Their Soldiers Being Captured in Ukraine.

    on 12/18/2014 | | Main News | News Print This Post Print This Post
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    For a long time, Russia have pretended that the militants in Donbas were volunteers and not its regular army. However, by the end of the summer the first captured Russian career soldiers started to appear, and became more difficult to lie.

    The first official captive was the 19-year-old contract soldier Andrei Balobanov, communications specialist of the 7th motorized rifle company (military unit No. 65349, Central Military District), who was captured around July 16-17.

    The official Russian position on this prisoner has changed for several times. At first he was ignored, but after the video of him was published, the newspapers in Omsk regions started talking about him:

    http://www.bk55.ru/news/article/35853/

    http://omskgazzeta.ru/…/o_popavshem_v_plen_omiche_balobano…/

    http://omskgazzeta.ru/omichi/spasti_ryadovogo_balobanova/

    All kinds of stories were offered in the attempt to explain it. Some said there was no such soldier, and even if there was, he was kidnapped in order to exchange him for Savchenko.

    Russian journalist Oleg Kashin didn’t hesitate to write: “It could be true, it could be a provocation, it could be a joke, it could be anything. With equal probability the man could be kidnapped in Rostov Oblast, or be captured in Donbas, or just be ‘created’ after noticing the name in Omsk news. But just keep in mind that some Ukrainians are saying that they’re holding Andrew Balobanov (with an ‘O’?). It is necessary to find out what happened to him and where he is.” (http://kashin.guru/2014/07/19/omich/).

    Then, they tried to drop the story, as if it never really happened. So, the web site ‘OmskRegion’ was one of the first to write about Balobanov, but later it removed the article, which, however, had already been referenced by many media outlets. It was removed clumsily – using the site search option, you can still find the title of the article, but the text can’t be opened anymore.

    Old link to the article: http://omskregion.info/item.asp?id=24787

    Gradually, Balobanov started being described as a deserter. Ostensibly, he could not be there at all, so he ran away to Ukraine on his own, meaning he was a deserter. Recently, ‘Novaya Gazeta’ media wrote about the soldier, but it didn’t add any clarity regarding his fate:

    http://www.novayagazeta.ru/news/1689315.html

    It seems that with this kind of approach Balobanov is not going to get back to Omsk any time soon.

    Next up was the 19-year-old contract soldier Peter Khokhlov from the 9th Motorized Rifle Brigade (military unit No. 54046, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia). On about August 8-10, he, along with his comrade Ruslan Garafyev, joined the terrorists for 150 thousands rubles (at least this is what Khokhlov claims in the video.)

    Both are officially registered as deserters and the Russian side has little interest in them.

    The next official prisoners appeared on August 24. Ukrainian military captured 10 servicemen from 331st Regiment of the 98th Airborne Division (military unit No. 71211). They were detained near the village of Zerkalniy in Amvrosievsky raion, Donetsk Oblast. It is about 20-40 kilometers into the Ukrainian territory.

    The first reaction was typical: another fake from the Ukrainian media, and there are no such soldiers, ‘where is the evidence?’, etc. And then a whole series of videos with the prisoners was published.

    To present all ten as yet another group of deserters would be too stupid, so pro-Russian commentators started saying that the paratroopers were captured and it was an operation carried out by some kind of special forces, either Mossad or the CIA. At the negotiations in Minsk, Putin had to come up with an answer: “The paratroopers got lost…”

    A few days later, at Seliger, Putin even tried to joke.

    “In fact, it’s true, and I’m serious. I believe that they were lost, because there are no marked boundaries” – meaning, that they went 40 kilometers into another country and never noticed. Officially recognizing the war against Ukraine was not an option, that’s why they came up with this justification, and Putin personally voiced it. It sounded a little bit retarded, but it was at least something.

    However, more prisoners showed up in Ukraine soon after that, and Russians have been very reluctant to mention them. On August 28, near Ilovaisk, the Ukrainian forces captured two contractors from the 31st Separate Airborne Assault Brigade, (military unit No. 73612, Ulyanovsk, Russia). Being in captivity, Ruslan Akhmetov and Arseniy Ilmitov provided their testimony.

    During withdrawal from the entrapment near Ilovaisk, they were allegedly exchanged for the promise of free passage out, but the Russians did not keep their word.

    The most astonishing in this case is that there was no reaction from the Russian side concerning the two prisoners at all. They were captured near Ilovaisk, which is 45-60 km from the Ukrainian border. Were they lost too?

    ‘LifeNews’ wrote a moronic report about them, not even trying to explain why and how Russian soldiers could appear in the Ukrainian territory.

    There was not a word about the Ukrainian captivity in the story. Well, at least, these soldiers were not presented as deserters.

    Around August 30 two more people were captured: warrant officer Vladimir Burakov and an unknown Buryatian, both from the 104th paratrooper regiment (military unit No. 32515).

    No one explained how they ended up in Ukraine. When having nothing to say, the Russian side simply keeps its silence in the hope that eventually all will be forgotten.

    Officially, so no one has ever commented on what the 21-year-old tank trooper Andrei Fedorchenko was doing in Ukraine. He took part in the “Tank biathlon – 2014” competition in August, and soon his tank was hit somewhere near Ilovaisk.

    At first Fedorchenko was presumed dead, but soon it was reported that he was exchanged for the Ukrainian prisoners. Whatever it was, his passport remained in the Ukrainian military possession.

    During the months of the war there have been dozens of Russian professional soldiers taken prisoner in Donbas. A Russian would probably remember the 10 “lost”, about whom Putin joked, but will likely be unable to explain how other Russian regular army personnel were found in Ukraine. Some of them were shown in videos, some were immediately exchanged, but nobody can say that they never were in Ukraine.

    PS: It is worth noting that in addition to the above-mentioned soldiers there’s also a video of Russian Army Sergeant Evgeniy Tur, who was exchanged for several Ukrainian troops. Nothing is known of his fate after he fell into the hands of the Russian FSB, his profile on Vkontakte.com has been thoroughly cleaned of all military photos and videos, and the man simply disappeared for both media and his family.

     

    Original article by Anton Pavlushko, translated by Kristina Dovgal

    Tags: Russian Armed ForcesRussian POW

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    11 Responses to “Embarrassment for Russia With Their Soldiers Being Captured in Ukraine.”

    1. 12/18/2014

      Roman Prokopchuk Reply

      Of course the will not admit they have soldiers yet they obviously have sent soldiers to fight. You can’t have it both ways. Crying wolf and being the wolf doesn’t work. Also not honoring neighboring countries borders, and supporting annexing lands is ridiculous. Russian mothers should really continue to ask why their sons are buried in unmarked graves not even a soldiers death.

    2. 12/18/2014

      ann Reply

      Which makes me truly thankful that I did not have the misfortune to be born Russian. This is truly awful.

    3. 12/19/2014

      Paul P. Valtos Reply

      Just like Hitler disguising SS prisoners in Polish uniforms and killing them after real SS personnel attacked a German radio station on the German Polish border, Putin uses the same playlist except his soldiers all had papers identifying them as members of the Russian army. He is just a bit more stupid than Hitler but just as dangerous. When will this charade end. Who is crazier, Putin or the West.

    4. 08/31/2016

      Paratroopers from Kostroma “Got Lost” in Ukraine Again - InformNapalm.org (English) Reply

      […] is also worth recalling the story of 10 captured Russian paratroopers from the same 331st Airborne regiment of the 98th  Airborne divisi…  who “got lost” in August of 2014. Ukrainian servicemen detained them near the village of […]

    5. 09/03/2016

      Fallskjermjegere fra Kostroma tapt i Ukraina igjen - InformNapalm på norsk Reply

      […] er også verdt å nevne vår forrige artikkel om ti fangede russiske fallskjermjegere fra 331. luftbårne regimentet som gikk tapt i august 2014. […]

    6. 09/03/2016

      Fallskärmsjägare från Kostroma vilse i Ukraina igen - InformNapalm på svenska Reply

      […] är också värt att påminna om vår tidigare artikel om tio infångade ryska fallskärmsjägare från 331:a luftburna regementet som gick vilse i […]

    7. 02/16/2017

      Platformy wiertnicze Czornomornaftohazu opanowane przez rosyjskich spadochroniarzy z 104. pułku - InformNapalm.org (Polski) Reply

      […] w wiosce Czerecha, obwód Pskowski, Rosja  Warto przypomnieć, dwóch żołnierzy tej jednostki zostało jeńcami ukraińskiej armii w końcu sierpnia 2014 […]

    8. 03/09/2017

      Zaza Khasia, medlem av ”Team Putin” på en mindre ärorik marsch i östra Ukraina - InformNapalm på svenska Reply

      […] Embarrassment for Russia as their soldiers are being captured in Ukraine […]

    9. 07/01/2017

      Abandoned by Russia: a scout from 22nd Brigade of the GRU captured by Ukrainian Army (video) - InformNapalm.org (English) Reply

      […] There were also many other facts of the capture of Russian military personnel, more details about this can be found in this feature: Embarrassment for Russia With Their Soldiers Being Captured in Ukraine. […]

    10. 07/01/2017

      En rysk spanare från GRU:s 22:a brigad fångad av den ukrainska armén Reply

      […] Det finns också många andra fall om tillfångatagande av rysk militär personal. Mer detaljer om detta finns i vår tidigare artikel: Embarrassing for Russia with its soldiers captured in Ukraine. […]

    11. 07/25/2017

      La Russia ha fregato di nuovo. L’esploratore della 22° brigata del Ministero della Difesa della Federazione russa è in prigione delle Forze Armate dell’Ucraina - InformNapalm.org (Italiano) Reply

      […] Vi ricordiamo che anche prima le Forze Armate dell’Ucraina  prendevano in prigione i militari russi. Il 16 maggio 2015 i guerrieri della 3° brigata della Squadra speciale anticrimine del Ministero della Difesa della Federazione russa come il sergente Aleksandr Aleksandrov e il capitano Evgenij Erofeev sono diventati prigionieri vicino al villaggio Sciastie della provincia Lugansk.  Il Ministro della Difesa della Federazione russa ha rifiuto di riconoscerli come i loro militari, ma nel 2016 in cambio di loro hanno liberato il deputato ucraino Nedezhda Savcienko, condannata a venti due anni di carcere. Anche ci sono tanti altri fatti della presa in prigione dei militari russi. Per conoscere di più, leggete l’articolo “Quanti militari russi sono stati presi in prigione ucraina?”. […]

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