Eight war criminals from the mortar battery of the battalion tactical group (BTG) of the 74th Motorized Rifle Brigade (MRB) of the Russian Army were identified as participants of the war in the Donbas, Ukraine. Identification of the location. The infographics.

This OSINT investigation carried out by InformNapalm volunteer intelligence community are populating the war criminals database with several Russian mortarmen from the 74th MRB (military unit 21005, Kemerovo oblast, Yurga), as well as present solid evidence of their participation in the in war in Ukraine. We are compelled to confirm here the mainstay myth of the Russian propaganda about the miners taking up arms in the war in the East of Ukraine. However not all of it, as we do not mean the locals, but rather the miners from the Kuznetsk Basin, Russia, that had to join the Russian Army driven by unemployment and a hope to find better fortune.

Into the third year of the undeclared war waged by Russia against Ukraine, we have collected a massive amount of evidence, and it would seem that it is impossible to find anything new. Moreover, Russian intelligence agencies have been actively cleaning up visual content evidencing the participation of the Russian army in this war. Nevertheless, after these three years, InformNapalm volunteers still find new facts.

The 74th MRB (military unit 21005, Kemerovo Oblast, Yurga, Central Military District) has caught attention of the InformNapalm team more than once. This military unit showed itself not only in Ukraine but in also in Syria. According to our data the BTG of The 74th MRB participated in hostilities in Donbas in summer and autumn 2014, which has been proved by a number of our investigations. Later, some servicemen of this brigade were noticed among the terrorists of Novorossia.

Our OSINT reliably identified eight war criminals from the 74th MRB. Pictures in albums of the subjects of this investigation show Ukrainian deployment of the mortar unit of this MRB during in summer and autumn of 2014.

 

1. Valentin Temnov

Date of birth: September 29, 1985. Place of birth: Novokuznetsk, Kemerovo Oblast, Russia During 1992-2002 he attended school #99, then vocational school #50 of Novokuznetsk. Then he worked in a coal mining enterprise Shakhta Bolshevik. In 2015 he graduated from the law school of the Novokuznetsk branch of the Kemerovo State University.

He did his conscript military service in 2005-2006 in the 7th Air Assault Division of the Airborne Forces of the Russian Army. Since the end of May 2014 was identified as contract soldier of the 74th MRB. By now, he is no longer serving at the Russian army.
Accounts on social networks: VK (archives profile, album, contacts), OK (archives profile, album, contacts).
In the picture

The timeline and places of the events of that period (with some exceptions) are accurately presented in the photo album of the our subject #1 Valentin Temnov. As mentioned above, in the late May or early June 2014, the former Kuznetsk miner sports a new look in a uniform borrowed from his comrade sergeant Hasamukdinov and a badge of the company charge of quarters. There are also interesting comments to the picture. The first one comes from his wife Ksenia, saying that her husband is in the army now. And another one from somebody named Denis with parting wishes to “waste banderites” (Ed.: a banderite is a follower of Stepan Bandera’s ideas of Ukrainian statehood and independence).

Next pictures from Temnov’s album were taken between June 20, 2014 and September 5, 2014 showing the process of the combat training on some training range of Yurga garrison: field trainings, practice with the 120mm mortar, and at the same time “acting lessons” on how to convincingly turn a Novorossia militant from a Russian army soldier.

Next pictures in Temnov’s album were posted on September 5, 2014. They are showing movement of the military train from Kemerovo oblast with a stop at the railway station Mikhaylovskiy Rudnik (the station is on the single-track railway line Arbuzovo-Orel, situated 1km from Zheleznogorsk, Kursk oblast). Two other pictures from September 5 were most probably taken at destination – the forest camp near the Ukrainian border in Rostov Oblast.

Note: these pictures were posted with a delay, e.g. pictures of the military train made by his comrades were posted a few days earlier – on August 15, 2014.

The most interesting pictures in Temnov’s album were posted in the period from September 11 to October 6, 2014. The pictures are from the forest camp and the fields. It is noteworthy, that Russian servicemen wear both standard army uniform (so called pixel military camouflage) with all the insignia and then a mix of different military and even civilian clothes. They all have combat gear and wear the white armbands (the identification mark used by the Russian Army and terrorists in Donbas).

Let us take a closer look at the military equipment on these pictures: – camouflaged UAZ jeeps with marks of a guards unit on the doors (probably belonging to the 20th Special Forces Brigade);
– armored personnel carriers (APC) BTR-80 with no side numbers and insignia;
– KamAZ and Ural trucks (the trucks of the mortar battery gunners) with no registration marks but having the white identification circles on the cab (these marks were observed on the vehicles of the Russian invading forces on numerous occasions). On one of these pictures Temnov is posing on an APC with a sign plate inscribed with “Donetsk-Snizhne” (looks like it has been taken out from a regular bus).

Judging by the timeline and pictures in Temnov’s album, one Ukrainian deployment was enough for him. Having received the triple salary and combat pay, he returned to Kemerovo Oblast, resigned from military service and returned to civilian life. However two years after the mission, he felt kind of nostalgic. On September 8, 2016 he posted some previously unpublished pictures which were taken in the combat zone in Donbas, posing with destroyed military equipment (T-64 tank and BMP infantry fighting vehicle).

Identification of the locations and destroyed armored vehicles

For identification of the geolocation and time when pictures were taken, we used the data from lostarmour.info web site. Through the analysis of the pictures we found out that they were taken by this serviceman of the 74th MRB near Novokaterynivka, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. According to lostarmour.info, the picture shows the convoy of the 17th Armored Brigade of the Ukrainian Army, which included T-64 tanks an BMPs and was destroyed on August 29, 2014.

Note: the information about Temnov and Ukrainian deployment of the 74th MRB of the Russian army was collected by InformNapalm investigators through own independent OSINT. However for the sake of accuracy, we should note, that picture of Temnov near the destroyed armored vehicles was posted as a comment on the one of discussion thread of the Sofa Army group in September 2015 (search result on images.google).  

The gang

Having dealt with Temnov, we also identified all his colleagues – participants of the Ukrainian deployments in 2014.

2. Mark Sharifullin

Date of birth: February 5, 1992. Place of birth: Novokuznetsk, Kemerovo Oblast, Russia Graduated from school #64 of Novokuznetsk in 2009. Graduated from Kuzbass State Technical University in 2014, majoring in mechanical engineering.

Did his conscript military service from 2010 to 2011 in the 59th MRB (military unit #44980 Eastern Military District, Sergeevka village, Primorskiy Krai, Russia). From 2013 till summer and autumn 2014 he served as a contract soldier of the 74th MRB. It is likely that in 2015 he was completing of his 3 year contract in the 24th Special Forces Brigade (military unit #55433, Novosibirsk, Central Military District). By now he is discharged from the Russian Army.
Accounts on social networks: VK (archives profile, album, contacts).

Timeline and places of the events are also well documented in Sharifullin’s album. We can see the “tour of duty” similar to Temnov’s. However there is one important additional detail, we know the approximate date of his returning from the Ukrainian deployment – October 20, 2014 (judging by the picture  taken on the platform of the railway station in Samara, Russia). The album of the subject #2 contains several group photos which were also noticed in Temnov’s album, pictures of the both servicemen, including the photo taken on the way to Ukraine on the Mikhaylovskiy Rudnik railway station and the photo taken in the forest camp of the Russian occupants.

One of the last of Sharifullin’s pictures posted on February 23, 2017 was from the period of his Ukrainian deployment in 2014. On the picture, there is a KamAz truck with the white circle and Sharifullin wears a white identification armband of the occupation’s troops.

3. Yevgeny Ivanov

Date of birth: November 14, 1989. Last address: Sochi, Krasnodar Krai, Russia Supposed place of birth: Shira, Republic of Khakassia, Russia

He did his conscript military service in the Russian airborne forces. In spring and summer 2014 he served as a contract soldier of the 74th MRB. We believe that he is still an active Russian Army serviceman.

Accounts on social networks: VK (archives profile, album, contacts).

The photo album of Ivanov contains some pictures from the period of the Ukrainian deployment, including a group photo from the same series as Temnov’s (pictures 207 and 224) and the picture with the Ural truck of the mortar battery with the white circle and rhombus – the tactical marking of the illegal armed groups (IAG) of Novorossia. Ivanov was also recognized on the picture (picture 247) in album of Sharifullin, the subject #2.

4. Alexander Pyzhyanov

Date of birth: May 9, 1993. Place of birth: Seversk, Tomsk Oblast, Russia

He did his conscript military service in 2013-2014 in the 74th MRB, since 2014 became a contract soldier of the same brigade.
Accounts on social networks: VK (archives profile, album, contacts), VK2 (profile has not been active since spring 2014).

In the photo album of Pyzhyanov, the subject #4, there are no pictures of the Ukrainian deployment in 2014. However, some photos point to it, like the group picture that shows him near the military train which was loaded in August 15, 2014 (the same picture is in Temnov’s photo album). Besides, Pyzhyanov was also recognized on the several pictures in the photo album of Sharifullin, the subject #2, (photos 243, 239) and Temnov, the subject #1 (photos 214, 216, 228).

5. Alexey Golev

Date of birth: May 30, 1980. Place of birth: Kemerovo, Russia.

Since 2007 and supposedly till now, he is a contract soldier of the 74th MRB.

Accounts on social networks: VK (archivesprofile, album, contacts), VK2 (profile has been inactive since October 2012), OK (archives profile, album, contacts).

In the photo album of the subject #5, there are no pictures from the Ukrainian deployment of 2014, but he himself was recognized on several pictures from the album of Sharifullin, the subject #2 ( photos  234, 237, 242).

6. Maxim Kuzmin

Date of birth: December 7, 1984. Place of birth: Kemerovo, Russia.

In 2014 he was a contract soldier of the 74th MRB.
Accounts on social networks: VK (profile has been inactive since October 2012).

Although Kuzmin’s page has remained inactive for five years, we managed to recognize him on the pictures of his “combat comrades”, taken in 2014, i.e. in the album of the subject #2 Sharifullin (picture  237) and subject #1 Temnov (picture 214 and 172).

7. Danil Koblik

Date of birth: June 20, 1993. Place of birth: Yurga, Kemerovo Oblast, Russia.

In 2014 he was a contract soldier of the 74th MRB.
Accounts on social networks: VK (profile has been inactive since August 2014), OK (archives profile, album, contacts).

Although the page of the subject #8 Koblik has been inactive since 2014, his photo album has several pictures from the Ukrainian deployment of 2014, including the picture posted on August 4, with a comment “In Ukraine”. Also he was recognized on the pictures of the subject #1 Temnov picture 228) and of the subject #2 Sharifullin (picture 235, 237).

8. Zhaks Iskakov

Date of birth: April 4, 1991. Place of birth: Omsk, Omsk Oblast, Russia.

Since 2014 and supposedly till now he is a contract soldier of the 74th MRB.

Accounts on social networks: VK (archives profile, album, contacts).

In the photo album of the subject #8 Iskakov we found several pictures from the period of the Ukrainian deployment of 2014, posted in September 2014, including the group photos with the subject #2 Sharifullin.

Reminding that the 74th MR B was noticed by the InformNapalm more than once, both in context of the Rostov-Ukraine missions of the tactical groups and individual deployments of some servicemen. Moreover, units of the 74th MRB were spotted in Syria.

• Russia again concentrates its military forces on the border with Donbass 11/06/2014
• 74th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade — Another Proof of Russian Presence in Donbas11/7/2014
• 74th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade — Another Proof of Russian Presence in Donbas 12/12/2014
• Russia’s Minister of Defense Shoygu Sent His Countrymen to Syria 11/02/2015
• The Russian 74th Brigade’s Contract Servicemen Fight in Donbas As Hooligans 10/09/2015
• Group of tankmen of the 74th Motorized Rifle Brigade identified in Donbas10/13/2016
• Ration of Russian 74th Brigade during its “Rostov-Ukraine” missions 02/08/2017

Databases of the Russian serviceman and evidence of the participation of the Russian-terrorist troops in the war in Ukraine are available here: https://informnapalm.org/en/category/top-investigations/.

This publication was prepared on the basis of an OSINT-investigation by the InformNapalm international volunteer group.

Author Irakli Komaxidze

Location identification Victory Krm. Infographics Alex Alexidze

Translated by Eugenia Zlamanuk, edited by Artem Velichko

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