International volunteer community InformNapalm has come up with a new OSINT investigation, somewhat expanding the geography to bring to light more Russian war criminals. This article exposes a group of Russian paratroopers of the 104th Air Assault Regiment from Pskov, who fought in Georgia in 2008. Now they also participate in the undeclared war unleashed by the Kremlin in the east of Ukraine.
It is a well known fact that Russia is the main supplier of hybrid terrorism around the world. This country and its criminal regime have perpetrated countless war crimes across post-Soviet countries and now in the Middle East as well. Even years later, evidence continue to surface on social media of the involvement of whole units of the Russian Armed Forces, both in the past and recent military ventures.
On November 3, 2015, we released a video featuring Russian war criminals having fun near Gori (Georgia) in August 2008, where tankmen of the North Caucasus Military District (now, the Southern Military District) and paratroopers of the 104th Air Assault Regiment (AAR) from Pskov are committing an act of vandalism. After we called for additional information on Russian war criminals and their accomplices on November 9 in our article Paratroopers of the 31st Brigade from Ulyanovsk As ‘Patriot’ Militants in Donbas, an anonymous source wrote us this: “In 2008, I served in the 104th Regiment of the 76th Division of the Russian Airborne Forces and participated in the Peace Enforcement Operation”. Years later, our contact began to understand the true nature of things, changed his views and came to resent what Russia does to Ukraine today, especially given that he is an ethnic Ukrainian. In the end of his letter of repentance, he left a few links to the VK social media profiles of his former fellow servicemen, saying they were the people who needed our attention.
An OSINT analysis of the Russian paratroopers’ profiles provided us with the following information.
- Anton Isaev is a career officer of the Russian Armed Forces, apparently serving in the 76th Airborne Division. He participated in the Russian invasion of Georgia in 2008 in the ranks of the tactical group of the 104th AAR; now he takes part in the undeclared war waged by the Russian Federation in Eastern Ukraine (archived profile, archive of photo albums 1 and 2, archived contacts, archive of the second profile).Born in Olonets town, Karelia, Russian Federation. Currently registered in Petrozavodsk city.
- Though there are no photographs in Isaev’s album evidencing his participation in the 2008 intervention, we found a video featuring the then Russian President D. Medvedev awarding orders and medals to paratroopers of the 104th AAR for the so-called “peace enforcement operation” featuring Isaev with the Order of Courage. Also, Isaev’s video album contains the vandalism video from Gori where he is marked as one of partakers by his fellow soldier Piotr Petrov. Isaev’s photo album contains a photo taken in Ukraine, in Ilovaisk, at the at the eponymous railway station stele, and other photos taken in Donbas featuring Isaev and his terrorist buddies.
Ukraine, Donbas 2014-2015
- Dmitry Dorofeev – presumably, a career serviceman of the Russian Armed Forces. Made part of the tactical group of the 104th AAR in the Russian invasion of Georgia in 2008. Currently, he takes part in Russia’s undeclared war in the east of Ukraine (archived profile, archive of the photo album and Donbas photos, archived contacts).Born on November 10, 1980, in Kovrov city. Dorofeev’s album contains numerous photos evidencing his participation in the 2008 invasion of Georgia in the ranks of the tactical group of the 104th AAR. His album contains numerous shots made in Donbas in 2014 and 2015, including photos featuring an infantry fighting vehicle inscribed “Somali” and BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launcher with an inscription “For Debaltsevo”.
Georgia, August 2008
Ukraine, Donbas, 2014-2015
- Stepan Kravchenko participated in the Russian invasion of Georgia in 2008 in the ranks of the tactical group of the 104th AAR, (archived profile, archives of photo albums 1 and 2, archived contacts).Lives in Moscow. He was awarded the medal For Military Valor and certificates of merit signed by the Russian President D. Medvedev and the regiment commander G. Anashkin. Kravchenko’s album contains numerous photos with cynical comments made by his fellow serviceman Aleksandr Kren who also participated the August invasion of Georgia.
- Aleksandr Kren participated in the Russian invasion of Georgia in 2008 in the ranks of the tactical group of the 104th AAR (archived profile, archives of photo albums 1 and 2 , archived contacts).Resides in Saint Petersburg. Unlike his fellow serviceman Kravchenko, Kren does not have many photos of the 2008 war.
- Aleksandr Filimonov participated in the Russian invasion of Georgia in 2008 in the ranks of the tactical group of the 104th AAR (archived profile, photo album archive, archived contacts). Born in June 1987, residing in Perm. Filimonov’s album contains numerous photos of the 2008 August war with comments, including photos taken near Gori.
- Igor Korobchuk participated in the Russian invasion of Georgia in 2008 in the ranks of the tactical group of the 104th AAR (archived profile, photo album archive, archived contact). Lives in Moscow. Korobchuk’s album includes photos taken during the Russian invasion of Georgia by his fellow serviceman Aleksandr Kren.
- Yevgeny Borisov participated in the Russian invasion of Georgia in 2008 in the ranks of the tactical group of the 104th AAR ( archived profile, photo album archive, archived contact). Born on August 9, 1985; currently residing in Arkhangelsk. Borisov’s album includes a number of exclusive photos of the Russian invasion of Georgia taken by his fellow serviceman Aleksandr Kren.
- Pavel Nekrasov is a BMD airborne infantry fighting vehicle driver; participated in the Russian invasion of Georgia in 2008 in the ranks of the tactical group of the 104th AAR (archived profile, photo album archive, archived contacts). Born in May 1988 in Sargino, Arkhangelsk Oblast, currently residing in the town of Velsk, phone numbers 89539378151 and 89214934111. He was awarded a medal For Distinction in Combat and certificates of merit signed by the Russian President D. Medvedev and regiment commander G. Anashkin (1 and 2).
- Khuler Kyrtynmay is a career serviceman of the Russian Armed Forces; presumably, serves in the reconnaissance company of the 74th Motorized Rifle Brigade (MRB) stationed in Ugra, a frequent participant in the “Rostov-Ukraine deployments”. Participated in the Russian invasion of Georgia in 2008 in the ranks of the tactical group of the 104th AAR (archived profile, archive of photo albums 1 and 2 , archived contact). Originally from Shagonarnyn Ak-Turugdan, Tyva.
- Piotr Petrov (presumably, a pseudonym; his real name may be Alexander) is a career serviceman of the Russian Armed Forces, presumably, serves in the 76th Airborne Division. Petrov’s album contains numerous photos taken in the autumn of 2014, presumably, at the Russian-Ukrainian border, which suggests his participation in the hostilities in Donbas. Petrov participated in the Russian invasion of Georgia in 2008 in the ranks of the tactical group of the 104th AAR (archived profile , photo album and video album archives, archived contacts). Resides in St. Petersburg. Though there are no photos of the Russian invasion of Georgia in Petrov’s album, his video album includes two videos featuring the the 2008 vandalism video from Gori. Courtesy of Petrov (who tagged his fellow servicemen in the video), we identified most of the servicemen from the invading group. The video features Anton Isaev, Roman Tyurbeev, Dmitry Starovoytov, Victor Danilov, Vladimir Baldanov, Sergey Chernyshov, Roma Bushin, Vitek Mokrov, Aydyn Mongush and Victor Ivanov (Danilov and Bushin removed their profiles; the rest became subjects of this investigation).
- Dmitry Starovoytov is a career serviceman of the Russian Armed Forces. Participated in the Russian invasion of Georgia in 2008 in the ranks of the tactical group of the 104th AAR (archived profile, archive of photo albums 1 and 2 , archived contact). We have grounds to believe that Starovoytov has been to Donbas: one of the photos features a decoration that looks like the George’s Cross of the DNR. Starovoytov’s album also contains numerous photos of the Russian aggression in Georgia in 2008. He was also tagged in the Petrov’s video.
- Vladimir Baldanov participated in the Russian invasion of Georgia in 2008 in the ranks of the tactical group of the 104th AAR ( archived profile, photo album archive, archived contacts). Resides in Khabarovsk city; phone number +79143752446. Though there are no photos of the Russian invasion of Georgia in Baldanov’s album, he was tagged in the video by his fellow serviceman Piotr Petrov. Baldanov has been identified as one of the participants in the vandalism video.
- Sergey Chernyshov participated in the Russian invasion of Georgia in 2008 in the ranks of the tactical group of the 104th AAR (archived profile, photo album archive, archived contacts). Born on February 13, 1988; resides in Vladimir city. Chernyshov’s album does not contain any explicit photos from the events of the 2008 war, but there is a number of other pictures from the Caucasus, and he is also tagged in Petrov’s video. Through Chernyshov, we could identify one more Pskov paratrooper, Yury Smirnov (the last person detected in this investigation) who fought in the East of Ukraine in the group of paratroopers in the fall of 2014.
- Vitek Mokrov participated in the Russian invasion of Georgia in 2008 in the ranks of the tactical group of the 104th AAR (archived profile, poto album archive, archived contacts). Born October 14, 1987. There are no photos of the war of 2008 in the album of Mokrov, but he, like others, was tagged in the video of Petrov, as well as in the photo of the regiment commander in the interview titled “We stormed Gori”, a story of Gennady Anashkin, the commander of the 104th AAR.
- Aydyn Mongush is a career serviceman of the Russian Armed Forces who participated in the Russian invasion of Georgia in 2008 in the ranks of the tactical group of the 104th AAR (archived profiles 1 and 2, photo album archive, archived contacts) . The album of Mongush contains no photos from the war of 2008, but, again, he was tagged in the video of Petrov.
- Victor Ivanov is a regular serviceman of the Russian Armed Forces who participated in the Russian invasion of Georgia in 2008 in the ranks of the tactical group of the 104th AAR, and in the operation to seize Crimea; he was awarded medals For the Return of the Crimea and For Military Valor (archived profile, photo album archive, archived contacts). Resides in Pskov city. The album of Ivanov contains no photos from the war of 2008, but, like other fellow soldiers, he was tagged in the video of Petrov.
- Roman Tyurbeev participated in the Russian invasion of Georgia in 2008 in the ranks of the tactical group of the 104th AAR ( archived profile, photo album archive, archived contacts). Resides in Podolsk city. Tyurbeev’s album contains no photos from the war of 2008, but he was tagged in the video of Petrov, he was also implicated in the comments of Isaev and in a photo from his page.
- Denis Shikula participated in the Russian invasion of Georgia in 2008 in the ranks of the tactical group of the 104th AAR ( archived profile, photo album archive, archived contacts). Resides in Karpinsk city. In the album of Shikula, there is a whole collection of photos from the time of the Russian intervention in Georgia in 2008. He is also tagged in the video of Petrov.
- Yuri Smirnov is a career serviceman of the Russian Armed Forces, currently serving in the 76th Airborne Division (archived profile, album archive, archived contacts); he is the last subject of this investigation. Born on August 13, 1986, originally from the city of Sokol. There are no photos or directly implicating information about his participation in the Russian aggression against Georgia in 2008, but he was spotted in Donbas together with his subunit in the fall of 2014, as evidenced by a number of photos from the combat zone. Holder of the Order of Courage.
In this investigation, we identified 19 Russian war criminals, whereas eight of them still serve in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. 18 paratroopers participated in the Russian aggression against Georgia in 2008, and six of them are participants of the undeclared war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine.
Background information
In August 2008, the Russian intelligence agencies, using their South Ossetian separatist puppets, provoked a military conflict in the Samachablo region of Georgia (so-called South Ossetia). Russian “peacekeeping forces” deliberately ignored active fire from the militants who targeted the Georgian villages of the region. After the Georgian Armed Forces were forced to launch a counter operation to ensure the safety of the population in the Tskhinvali region on the territory of the sovereign state of Georgia and began to localize the hotspots of separatist activity, Russia announced the start of the “peace enforcement operation”, which resulted in an open aggression against Georgia, followed by the occupation of the regions of Samachablo and Abkhazia. The creeping occupation of Georgia has been continuing ever since. Russian military invasion of 2008 resulted in the killing of 408 Georgian citizens (including 170 soldiers), the number of refugees and displaced persons increased by 26 thousand people (in total, the number of refugees in Georgia is more than 260 thousand people), more than 20 percent of its territory is occupied by Russia.
This publication was compiled based on the OSINT investigation of the InformNapalm international volunteer group in cooperation with the Myrotvorets Center.
Author: Irakli Komaxidze
(с) Information specially prepared for InformNapalm.org, an active link to the authors and our project is obligatory for any reprint or further use of the material.