The InformNapalm team has already published numerous documental evidences of participation of the Russian Armed Forces in combat in the territory of Ukraine. We have published photos and videos as proof of militants using heavy Russian armor and artillery in Donbas. Pictures of rocket launchers and flamethrowers, heavy machine guns and special rifles in mercenaries’ hands are all over the media. However, official heads of the Russian Federation continue to lie to the whole world crying: “There are no Russian troops in Ukraine”. The last argument of Russian propaganda is a thesis about “spontaneously inflamed” locals who stormed local warehouses and arms rooms and became separatists using these weapons. It is time to take a look at both components of this thesis: the local “miners” and their weapons.
Maidan Shootings
There are two soldiers in this picture. One of them is a Russian serviceman dressed in a uniform of a Ukrainian policeman (“Berkut” unit). The second one is supposedly a local miner with a rifle. The rifle in the “miner’s” hands in not usual, but a standard-issued weapon of the Russian army – AK-74M. It is easy to assume that they are colleagues who are playing different parts in resistance to the “Ukrainian junta”. Nikolay Kozlov and Fanis Khasanshyn posted their own pictures in social media wearing “Berkut” police uniform. They cannot hide it now. Any excuses that they were volunteers would not work either. That is why the Kremlin is silent: any excuse would worsen the guilt of Russian leaders who have pushed their country into an awful adventure.
However, there are more evidences about this war in Ukraine that was started by Russia.
“Sticker” from Belbek. February – March, 2014
This “liberator” has blocked the way for the column of Ukrainian officers heading towards a Ukrainian air base in Belbek, Crimea.. He is together with … Russian servicemen wearing no insignia, holding Russian weapons (AK-74M “Pecheneg”) and using Russian armored vehicles “Tiger”. He states he is a “local resident” and “had only a stick in his hands just two weeks ago”. He answeres “No!” to a direct question if he is a Russian serviceman. However, why does he wear a Russian field uniform and hold a service rifle AK-74M ready to fire, but not a stick, as a local resident would do? The Kremlin is silent…
That was only the begining. I am completely sure that there was no need for the militants to seize Ukrainian military bases and police stations to get weapons, because the attackers were well armed even before the seizures, and their armament was different from that of Ukrainian soldiers.
Simferopol. March 2014
This person is armed with a version of the American AR-15 assault rifle. The AR-15 was based on the AR-10, designed by Eugene Stoner. More than 30 companies all over the world manufacture these guns. After the extensive “tuning” conducted on the rifle of this “militant”, only a manufacture mark could have helped to identify the producer. The mark cannot be seen on the picture. However, ARES called this gun “Zbroyar” in its report about weapons used in Ukraine. Maybe somebody gave a hint to the European specialists and named the Ukrainian producer of the AR-15, so that they did not try to find the real origin of this rifle? But look at the picture yourself! A “peaceful resident” of Simferopol walked out on the street to seize army warehouses, holding a magnificent rifle with a magnificent scope and even more magnificent silencer. You can’t make a silencer in 5 minutes and mount it on a barrel! Any of those actions lead to criminal prosecution both in Russia and Ukraine. The only category of people who are allowed to do that are members of law enforcement agencies. If anybody needs more evidence, let’s look at the hip of this “volunteer”. He wears a pistol for close combat, as is done by any sniper, but not a miner. So why does he need someone else’s arsenal? He’s got plenty already!
Sloviansk. Municipal Police Department. April, 2014
Again we see a person with an AR-15. If he did not need to arm in Simferopol (Crimea), why would he go to Sloviansk (650 km from Simferopol), already having a rifle nearly 1.5 meters long? And why did he need to change the scope? This picture shows his pistol – Stechkin automatic pistol (SAP), it is a weapon of special service forces. If this AR-15-man is not a miner, than who is he? And what did he do in Simferopol and Sloviansk? And what is more interesting, he was not alone in Sloviansk!
AR-15 revealed again. April, 2014
Screenshot taken from this video.
There are four “bodyguards” in this photo (the fourth one is hidden behind the person on the left). The one in the background has an AR-15 on his neck. Although its color is different from the one noticed before, it has the same scope. It has a silencer too. There is a pistol on the hip of the “bodyguard” also. Not only him, but three others in this group are wearing the same pistols on their hips.
SAPs. April, 2014
Screenshot taken from this video.
It has to be proved that such armament was present in the seized Ukrainian arsenals. However, in the Russian army this is how they carry large pistols. They even have special holsters.
And AR-15’s and SAPs were not the most exotic types of weapon used by “insurgents” in Sloviansk in mid April.
April 2014
Screenshot taken from this video.
I can only assume that this is FN 30-11, a sniper rifle, common in many armies. I could be wrong about the type of rifle, but it is impossible to deny the presence of a silencer. It is huge! For what tasks and in which mine was such an apparatus created? Why do miners need such rifles? And if the idea of self-arming still remains attractive to someone, I advise them to think about why all those so called local residents put on a field uniform of the Russian army.The Kremlin is silent…
RPK. May, 2014
Screenshot taken from this video.
Luhansk. Another “revolt of the unknown”. A young man about the age suitable for active duty service, surrounded by other armed people, is sitting and filling magazines for his Kalashnikov hand-held machine gun (RPK). He has no uniform on. However, his gun tells more than any uniform. We can see a plastic cover on the gas tube. This cover has pronounced ribs. There are no RPKs with such unique features in Ukraine. However, there are such machine guns in Russia. As we see, this group of miners does not need Ukrainian weapons – they are already armed!
PB silent pistol
The date is unknown
This type of gun is not very common. In was created in 1967 specially for the KGB and army intelligence and was not widely known to public. It was based on the Makarov Pistol and uses the same bullets. Similar to the situation with the Stechkin automatic pistol, we do not know if it was found in the seized warehouses and arms rooms. However, it is deployed by the special operations groups of the Russian army. And that is a well known fact. But the Kremlin is silent…
“Vikings” have captured trophies of the Ukrainian Armed Forces
Date is unknown. Screenshot taken from this video.
Everything is simple here. One of the “Vikings” is holding a Kalashnikov assualt rifle with a folded solid stock in his hands. This is another Russian service AK-74M. So, who are those Vikings? The Kremlin is silent…
Forgetful Zhora
The village of Pisky. October 2014. Screenshot taken from this video.
A “warlord” Zhora, while talking about the hard life of “insurgents”, forgot that he was holding an AK-74 in his hands and displayed to the whole world that the gun had a silencer on the barrel! Classical silencers, used by both sides, are made for the 7.62 mm caliber. The silencer for Zhora’s gun (do not confuse with AKSU) was created not long ago in Russia. It is called ATG (assault rifle tactic silencer). There are no such silencers in Ukraine. And the Kremlin is silent about this too…
Marauder
Place and date is unknown. Screenshot taken from this video.
This person, enthusiastic with the hijacking of a motorbike and dressed in a Russian field military Gorka uniform does not even think that his actions can be classified as marauding and he would be severely punished in any army with self-respect. However, the Russian army has never respected itself, otherwise its soldiers would not operate in the ATO zone without their chevrons and insignias. That is why this “miner” does not feel any shame for what he is doing. He also has the same service AK-74M behind his back (with a folding solid stock). Russia is silent…
Stechkin automatic pistol again
Donetsk. November 2014. Screenshot taken from the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfbJCfh-Is0
There is another SAP on the hip that can be seen in the frame. Only two out of the whole group participating in this action are able to shoot the NSV machine gun. They are probably “miners” too. We should probably ask the Kremlin about this, but the Kremlin is silent…
The following set of pictures will explain the Kremlin’s silence..
Almost all the equipment, used by Russian soldiers in eastern Ukraine today, belongs to Russia. A few years ago, some of these weapons were demonstrated for leaders of the Russian state and touted as the most modern technologies of the Russian defense industry. Therefore, many of these weapons could bot be present in the Ukrainian arsenals seized by separatists. And the Kremlin is silent about that! Those tales about “seizures” are needed in case of future trials, so the responsibility for the death of Ukrainian citizens can be transferred from Russian political leaders to Russian soldiers-“volunteers” with the “seized” weapons. But, it seems that the Kremlin will not be successful either in defeating Ukraine, or in hiding the evidence of war crimes.
Original article by Al Gri, translated by Maksym Sviezhentsev, edited by Sveta Kemblowski