In August 2019, Russian Federation began to build a military base 60 km from the border with Ukraine for the permanent deployment of the newly formed 150th Motorized Rifle Division. This was reported by the journalists of the Russian regional media company Don-TR. The military compound will occupy the land plot belonging to the the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation of about 80 hectares along Oganova Street in Rostov-on-Don. The construction of the barracks is scheduled for completion by the end of 2019. InformNapalm volunteer intelligence community researched the units making part of the new division; our findings indicate the participation of the military personnel and command of the division in the aggression against Ukraine.

Facts about the newly formed 150th Division of the Russian Army

According to the data available to InformNapalm community, the division began to form in the end of 2014. In March 2016, the headquarters of the Southern Military District of the Russian Federation announced the deployment of the new division. Its creation was due to the inability of the Russian brigades to effectively confront NATO-style brigades. The formation of the division was scheduled to be completed by the end of 2017 on the basis of the former 33rd Mountain Motorized Rifle Brigade permanently stationed in Maykop. In April 2018, in the Rostov Oblast in the area of Petrovka village a moving convoy BMP-3 infantry mobility vehicles (IFV) was spotted.

According to the findings of an InformNapalm investigation, the equipment belonged to the 102nd or 103rd Motorized Rifle Regiments. Some combat vehicles had their side numbers painted over. This is an apparent sign that the equipment was destined for the occupied parts of Ukrainian Donbas.

In the area of Bolshoy Dolzhik village a moving convoy of 2S3 Akatsiya self-propelled howitzers was spotted. Self-propelled howitzers were accompanied by 1V13 and 1V16 command vehicles, as well as a BT-LBu armored vehicle with a proximity fuse jammer which is used to ensure safety against radio-controlled landmines when escorting convoys.

Division Structure according to findings of InformNapalm

The division has the following distinctive feature: instead of 3 motorized rifle and 1 armored regiment, it has 2 armored and 2 motorized rifle regiments:

• 102nd Motorized Rifle Regiment, military unit 91706 (equipped with BMP-3 IFVs);
• 103rd Motorized Rifle Regiment (equipped with BMP-3 IFVs);
• 68th Armored Regiment, military unit 91714 (equipped with T-72B3 main battle tanks)
• 163rd Armored Regiment, military unit 84839 (equipped with T-72B3 main battle tanks)
• 933th Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment, military unit 15269 (equipped with Tor-M2 anti-aircraft missile systems)
• 381st Artillery Regiment, military unit 24390 (equipped with Msta-B);
• 174th Separate Reconnaissance Battalion, military unit 22265;
• 258th Separate Signal Battalion, military unit 84881;
• 539th Separate Engineer Battalion;
• 293rd Separate Logistics Battalion, military unit 98591;
• 195th Separate Medical Battalion;
• separate UAV company;
• separate EW company;
• separate NBC protection company;
• other subunits.

Information about the command of the 150th Division

The commander of the 150th MRD, Major General Petr Bolgarev

According to the data of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, in 2015-2016, Petr Bolgarev, still a colonel, was the commander of the 4th Brigade of the 2nd Army Corps (Luhansk) of the Russian occupation forces in Donbas. These troops were controlled by the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces through the territorial command center of the Southern Military District forces (there is proven information on Bolgarev in the Myrotvorets Center database).

Read more about the division command: Myths and reality behind the 150th Division, Russian state-of-art 21st century Armed Forces

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