Another stage in finding the guilty of MH17 crash and the increased attention of the world society to the identification of the war criminals impelled OSINT investigators to publish the new data found within the boundlessness of the internet.

While certain groups of investigators try to monopolize the sphere of open data intelligence and ‘classify’ what was openly available, the other teams (including the InformNapalm community) follow the principle of ‘operational data extraction and making it public‘ in order to avoid moving the information into the behind-the-scenes games of the power players. Only the full openness and clear presentation of the research algorithms, which allow the general public to assure oneself of transparency of the gathered materials, can provide a background for the inevitability of punishment.

The new OSINT investigation prepared by Nikolay Mahno reveals information about the commander of the 53rd air defense brigade (military unit No. 32406, Kursk, Russia). According to one of the version of the investigation team, the servicemen from this brigade can be involved in the killing of the passengers of flight MH17.

See also: “Russian Air Defense Officer Got a St. George’s Cross IV Degree: Was It for MH17 or Ukrainian Su-25 and An-26?”

The restricted reports and anonymization of the information do not let exert public pressure on the direct customers and executors of the war crimes. It is important to ensure that the faces of the criminals are not hidden and the personal and biographic information of each subject is freely available. The Russian special services can erase any information about figurants in the Net and even physically eliminate the executor, but the data must remain at least as screenshots, photos or archives.

Background information:

• Name: Sergei Borisovich Muchkaev.
• Rank: colonel.
• Age: 39.
• Native town: Chebarkul (Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia). He also mentions Naro-Fominsk (Moscow Oblast) – it could be the former place of work.
• Education: Sergei graduated the St. Petersburg High Command School of Air Defense (formerly know as Leningrad Antiaircraft Artillery School, ‘LATUZA’) in 1997.

• Education related facts and links to archives

  Most of Muchkaev’s course mates (archive) are graduates of the St. Petersburg High Command School of Air Defense. Muchkaev is also a member of ‘LATUZA’ [Russian abbreviation of the old school name] official group (archive). The information about the academic studies is also confirmed by his Facebook profile (archive) which indicates the graduation year – 1997.

The official website of the Russian Ministry of Defense, in its section about the 53rd air defense brigade of the Western Military District, has a publicly available reference to colonel Sergei Muchkaev. It says that colonel Sergei Borisovich Muchkaev has been the commander of the 53rd brigade since 2013. The date of MH17 tragedy fits this period.

• Additional links to the archives of the social profiles of colonel Muchkaev

  This is the available to the public Odnoklassniki social profile of colonel Muchkaev, where you can see photos from his ‘everyday’ life (https://archive.is/SRqQw , https://archive.is/Ulq95, https://archive.is/zt4vk, https://archive.is/BzowI, https://archive.is/e329r).

  Archives of the profile: https://archive.is/46xOt, album: https://archive.is/RdjG7, contacts: https://archive.is/ZyBMF, co-workers: https://archive.is/5OzQP, course mates: https://archive.is/QDC1v, collegues: https://archive.is/yXzd3.

We have also found several mentionings of the colonel regarding the following events:

• laying of the foundation stone of an Orthodox church in the military unit (archive), dated on August 11, 2015
• A letter to the president of the Russian Federation from junior sergeant Ivan Krasavin, a contract serviceman from the military unit No. 32406 (Kursk), in which he reports about the poor state of affairs in the 53rd brigade (direct link, archive). Citation from the report of sergeant Krasavin:
  “…Not long ago, according to an order by colonel Muchkaev S. B., the officers and contract soldiers had to spend their own money on generators to ensure power supply to the tent camp…”.

Colonel is pretty cautious in the Net and does not post photos from the war. But the deep investigation resulted in finding out that most of his friends and contacts are the middle level commanders of the air defense troops.

Also we posses a set of background information and archives about his closest relatives: mother, father and spouse. The heritage and twist of fate are the most interesting here.

• Afterword: Karma and legacy of ancestors

  It has been established that his mother Elena Vasilievna Muchkaeva (E. Muchkaeva-Popelo), was born in Dobele, (Latvia) on April 20, 1956, and lives now in Chebarkul (Russia).

  This woman of the old school modestly specifies KGB as a former place of work. A funny thing – this comrade from KGB has birthday on the same day as Hitler – April, 20.

   

  No wonder that such a ‘mother from the KGB’ brought up such a son – a red brigade commander, suspected in the terrorist attack and killing 298 passengers of the flight MH17.

Maybe the international investigation team should request the Russian side a possibility to interrogate the servicemen of the 53rd brigade concerning their participation in the tragedy.

(CC BY 4.0)

Original article by Nikolay Mahno, translated by Stepan Grishin