17 out of 22 Russian servicemen of the former 17th Motorized Rifle Brigade (MRB), who participated in the aggression against Ukraine, were identified on 2 archived group photographs.
InformNapalm international intelligence community continues to identify regular Russian servicemen who took part in the hybrid aggression against Ukraine. As of July 2021, InformNapalm has collected evidence against over 2,630 Russian soldiers and officers in its OSINT investigations database. This OSINT investigation by InformNapalm adds new facts to the database. In this investigation we make public the identification data of the Russian servicemen of the former 17th MRB from Chechnya (military unit 65384, Shali village). In 2017, the brigade was reorganized into the 291st Motorized Rifle Regiment (MRR) as part of the 42nd Motorized Rifle Division.
Similarly to the recent identification of 5 servicemen from the 18th MRB of the Southern Military District and 8 servicemen from the 61st Marine Brigade of the Northern Fleet, the starting point for the new OSINT investigation was a group photo of 22 Russian military men, which was taken during the Ukrainian deployment in the summer and autumn of 2014.
There are 2 versions of this group photo: 21 people, with one photographer replacing with another. The photograph clearly shows the characteristic features of the Russian invading forces – non-standard uniforms and white identification armbands. The group photo was published by InformNapalm on October 13, 2014 (the photo itself was posted on social media by one of the servicemen on September 28, 2014 with the a geotag at the Kuibyshev raion of Rostov Oblast bordering Ukraine). In the course of the new investigation, this group photo, along with other pictures (see below) directly from the Donbas, was repeatedly found in the accounts of the persons listed below. In total, 17 out of 22 war criminals were identified (+1 partially), including 4 officers among them.
- Contract soldier Arman Bekinkaliev (Russian: Арман Бекинкалиев)
Born September 7, 1987.
Resides / was born in Blagodarny, Stavropol Krai
Social media accounts:
https://vk.com/id418972274 (archive)
https://ok.ru/profile/557269765738 (archive)
- Contract soldier Rustam Galiev (Russian: Рустам Галиев)
Born: May 10, 1982.
Resides / was born in Izhevsk.
Social media accounts:
- Contract soldier Akhmed Magomedov (Russian: Ахмед Магомедов)
Born: June 18, 1984 (possibly 1985).
Resides / was born in Neftekumsk, Stavropol Krai.
Social media accounts:
https://vk.com/id489909674 (archive)
https://ok.ru/profile/177096733457 (archive)
- [not identified]
- ontract soldier Anatoly Gostev (Russian: Анатолий Гостев)
Born March 31, 1988
Resides / was born in Nalidovo, Tver Oblast.
Social media accounts:
https://vk.com/id203668304 (archive)
https://vk.com/id145127577 (archive)
https://ok.ru/profile/553667874928 (archive)
- Contract soldier Andrey Kulishenko (Russian: Андрей Кулишенко)
Born: December 1, 1988.
Resides / was born in Leninsk, Volgograd Oblast.
Social media accounts:
https://ok.ru/profile/458977169769 (archive)
https://ok.ru/profile/527541781483 (archive)
https://vk.com/id198329045 (archive)
There is a particularly interesting selection of photos dated August 2014 from the Rostov Oblast bordering Ukraine and from the Donbas.
- Contract soldier Yakov Lopushkov (Russian: Яков Лопушков)
Born: August 17, 1990.
Resides / was born in Leninsk, Volgograd Oblast.
Social media accounts:
https://vk.com/id80682917 (archive)
https://vk.com/id225001681 (archive)
https://ok.ru/profile/530568971074 (archive)
- Contract soldier Ruslan Apkhazishvili (Russian: Руслан Апхазишвили)
Birthday March 15, 1982.
Resides / was born in Stavropol.
Social media accounts:
https://vk.com/id102432298 (archive)
https://ok.ru/profile/342395106613 (archive)
There are many interesting videos on his YouTube channel, including from the period of service in the 17th MRB in Chechnya.
https://www.youtube.com/user/gruzinsav26/videos (archive)
- Contract soldier Sergey Cherdantsev (Russian: Сергей Черданцев)
Born: January 8, 1980.
Resides / was born – Polysaevo, Kemerovo Oblast
Social media accounts:
https://vk.com/id160714784 (archive)
https://vk.com/id160643964 (archive)
https://ok.ru/profile/514972842909 (archive)
His album titled Army traces the timeline of the redeployment of the 17th MRB from Chechnya to Crimea (April 2014) and to the Donbas (September 2014). The album also contains “photo 21”, which we used to identify Russian war criminals.
- Contract soldier Nikolay Malikov (Николай Маликов)
Born: January 14, 1969.
Nezlobnaya village, Georgievsky Raion, Stavropol Krai
Social media accounts:
https://ok.ru/profile/344098139827 (archive)
https://ok.ru/profile/336277369028 (archive)
https://vk.com/id229038839 (archive)
- Contract soldier Alexander Kulishenko (Russian: Александр Кулишенко, nickname “Sanya-Kamaz”)
Born: December 1, 1988.
Resides / was born – Leninsk, Volgograd Oblast
Social media accounts:
https://vk.com/id478813993 (archive 1, 2)
https://ok.ru/profile/372530100283 (archive)
The selection of photos uploaded in 2018 is of particular interest. It records the summer and autumn Ukrainian mission of the 17th MRB in 2014. It also contains the “photo 21” with a slight difference: in the center instead of Anatoly Gostev (№5) there is Dmitry Kraft (№22).
- Contract soldier Sergei Mironov (Russian: Сергей Миронов)
Born: June 23, 1985.
Resides / was born – Belovo town, Kemerovo Oblast
Social media accounts:
https://ok.ru/profile/554433495992 (archive)
https://ok.ru/profile/338048369794 (archive)
- Contract soldier Shakhrat Turkmenov (Russian: Шахрат Туркменов)
Born: June 14, 1989.
Resides / was born in the village of Sharakhalsun, Turkmen Raion, Stavropol Krai.
Social media accounts:
https://ok.ru/profile/561371194898 (archive
https://vk.com/id508552019 (archive)
- [not identified]
- [not identified]
16. Contract soldier Alexander Volokitin (Russian: Александр Волокитин)
Born March 4, 1990
Resides / was born in Khanty-Mansiysk.
Social media accounts:
https://vk.com/id448117402 (archive)
https://ok.ru/profile/499066976681 (archive)
https://vk.com/id272606942 (archive)
The selection of photos uploaded in 2018 is of particular interest. It also features the 2014 summer and autumn Ukrainian mission of the 17th MRB. And it contains the “photo 21/2” as well, with a slight difference: in the center instead of Anatoly Gostev (№5), there is Dmitry Kraft (№22).
17. Officer Artem Chaikin (Russian: Артем Чайкин)
Born: September 24, 1990.
Resides / was born in Kumylzhenskaya village, Volgograd Oblast.
Education: A graduate of Yekaterinburg Higher Artillery Command School.
Social media accounts:
https://vk.com/id66220130 (archive 1, 2)
https://vk.com/id136029720 (archive)
- [not fully identified]. Presumably an officer, the name is Maxim.
Social media accounts:
the account has been deleted.
No other data available.
- [not identified]
- Officer Andrey Tukov (Russian: Андрей Туков).
Born: December 15, 1989
Resides / was born in Kazan.
Social media accounts:
https://vk.com/id147734276 (archive)
The account has been deleted.
https://vk.com/id272707772 (archive), https://ok.ru/profile/571103202132 (archive)
He changed his name in social media to “Andrey Kazansky”.
He was identified earlier by the lostivan project and listed in the Russian war criminals database https://myrotvorets.center/criminal/tukov-andrej/. https://fest.nhliga.org/player/view/22881
He plays as a forward # 25 in the Daimohk hockey team. Qualification – amateur. https://nhliga.org/player/view/47211
- Presumably officer Alexei Atomov (it is possible that his real second name is Gromov). Russian: Алексей Атомов (or Громов)
Born January 1, 1990,
Resides / was born – Chebarkul.
Social media accounts:
https://vk.com/id43713640 (archive
https://vk.com/id33985770 (archive)
- Contract soldier Dmitry Kraft (Russian: Дмитрий Крафт)
Born: November 25, 1981.
Resides / was born – Cherkessk, Karachay-Cherkessia
Social media accounts:
https://vk.com/id241667630 (archive)
https://ok.ru/profile/507967470961 (archive)
Present in the “photo 21/2”, taking the place of Anatoly Gostev (№5).
It is worth noting that this feature is just an episode in the row of investigations evidencing the participation of the military personnel of the 17th MRB in hostilities against Ukraine. Other groups and individual military men of this unit were identified in the following InformNapalm investigations:
“Inglourious Basterds”: a monument to the soldiers of the 17th Mechanized Infantry Brigade in Shali 2015-02-06
— The 17th Brigade in Donbas in Summer, 2014. Photo proofs 2015-04-27 27.04.2015
Officer of the Russian 17th Motorized Rifle Brigade Awarded Order of Courage for the Donbas War 2015-06-18
2S19 ‘Msta-S’ Self-Propelled Mortar of the 17th Brigade near Novoazovsk 2015-08-12
Another ‘Hybrid Miner’ from the Russian 17th Brigade 2016-02-10
Veterans of Donbas from the 17th Mechanized Infantry Brigade and their Orders of Courage 07/12/2016
“F#cked-up brigade” – former contract soldier about 17th MRB of the Russian Army (Video) 2016-10-07
The OSINT investigation was prepared by 
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Read the latest book “Donbas in Flames. Guide to the Conflict Zone” published by Prometheus Center. This guide will be useful to journalists, researchers, war experts, diplomats and general readers seeking information on the war in Donbas.
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