A career scout with the 7th Russian military base (military unit 09332, Gudauta, occupied Abkhazia, Georgia) who is on a combat mission in the city of Horlivka, Donetsk region of Ukraine, was given away by a bull terrier.

In early October 2016, InformNapalm volunteer intelligence community received a document, the so-called ration records reflecting the structure and strength of the battalion tactical group (BTG) of the 7th Military Base on the “Rostov-Ukraine mission”. According to our estimates, as of July 7, 2016,  288 servicemen (out of 418) of this BTG of the 7th Military Base, being on a combat alert mission in the Rostov region, received food rations. It gave us 130 absentees. So we wondered where the 130 soldiers belonging to BTG were. And after a while we received confirmations for our assumption of their foray to the other side of the border to support illegal armed groups of Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) and Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR). This is the focus of this OSINT investigation.

The target of our investigation

Sergey Finogin

Born August 2, 1990, originally from Alexandrovsk, Perm Oblast.

He did his compulsory military service in 2009 in the Russian Air Force/Air Defense. Since 2014 he’s been a contract serviceman of the 7th Russian Military Base (military unit 09332, Gudauta, occupied Abkhazia, Georgia). Presumably, he serves in the field reconnaissance company of the reconnaissance battalion or in the reconnaissance platoon of the 2nd infantry battalion.

Social network accounts: using the false first name and the surname of his mother, he calls himself Ilya Kuznetsov – on VK (archived profile, photo album, contacts), declared place of residence is Horlivka. There are also abandoned accounts under the name Sergey Finogin – VK2, OK1, OK2 with residence in Aleksandrovsk, Perm Oblast, Russia.

Judging by the photos posted by Finogin, his combat mission to Donbas began in August 2016. The last photo from the home station of the 7th Military Base in Gudauta was posted on July 20. A little earlier, on June 30, photos were posted from the base camp of the Rostov contingent around Kadamovsky training range.  From then on Finogin posted pictures from the mission, and we believe he is still there.

Photo #1, posted on September 4, 2016, shows Finogin together with two militants, all three of them wearing non-standard uniforms.

Photo #2, posted on November 13, 2016, shows Finogin posing with a “dashing” militant in a fur hat.

On the photo #3, posted on November 10, 2016, Finogin is walking a bull terrier.  We identified the spot: Gorky Municipal Park in Horlivka with distinctive benches and cracked pavement.

In his album, there are also other pictures with the Horlivka bull terrier. They belong to the period from August to November 2016, among them there is the photo #4, posted on November 5. It shows Finogin posing in the standard-issue uniform of the Russian Army (“digital camo”) with a DPR flag shoulder patch.

Photo #5 posted on October 27, 2016 shows Finogin with a young lady.

We easily identified the lady: she turned out to be a resident of the occupied Horlivka, a single mother Yuliya Abayeva, born January 15, 1991 personal ID code – 3325200224. She resides at 22 Olenina st, apt. 39. Presumably, a medic working at City Hospital #2. Social network accounts: archives: VK (profile, photo album,contacts), OK ( profile, photo album, contacts). It is noteworthy that among Abayeva’s friends we found one Oksana Kuznetsova, the mother of Finogin, which indicates the seriousness of his relationship with the young lady from Horlivka.

This is not the first “military romance” between an occupier and a citizen of Ukraine. Read more love stories in previous publications of InformNapalm:

• Given out by love, 34th Motorized Rifle Brigade spotted in Donbas10/28/2016
• 3 Trips From the 18th Brigade to Donbas — ‘Cherchez la femme’
• Love Story 3: love triangle of a Russian occupant 11/21/2016

We could also establish that Russian soldiers on Donbas missions are charged with combat training of local separatists and Russian “volunteers”. This is evidenced by the pictures posted on August 13 and September 3 2016 in the album of Finogin’s compatriot. Russian citizen Andrey Panishko (profile, photo album, contacts) is an instructor for the militants. In the album, there is a photo of Panishko and Finogin sitting together on the already familiar leather sofa. It was posted on August 20, with the following comment: “Wow!!! So it happens in life… Homeboy… Just rushed in…” There is also a picture posted on August 5, in which Panishko is posing with the aforementioned bull terrier.

Finogin’s photos can be found in the albums of other militants, mostly Russian citizens, as well as local separatists, members of illegal armed groups of “Novorossia” – photos 1, 2, 3.

The fact that Sergei Finogin is a career soldier at the 7th Military Base has been confirmed by the chronology of photographic evidence tracing his movements along the route: Gudauta (7-th Military Base) – Rostov (Kadamovsky training range) – Donbas (Horlivka). Finogin’s contacts also corroborate it. There are many military men serving in the occupied Abkhazia among them.

Judging by the number of our publications, featuring military unit 09332, the 7th Military Base beats all previous records and is the most belligerent military force of the Russian Army in Ukraine. Read more:

• Combat Crews of 2S3 “Akatsiya” of the 7th Military Base Identified along the Border with Ukraine 10/2/2014
• ‘Donetsk Express’ – identification of Russian military equipment and weaponry, transferred to Donbas10/6/2014
• Medical Detachment of the 7th Military Base from Abkhazia Identified near the Border with Ukraine 10/11/2014
• Rocket artillery of the 7th Military Base of the Russian occupation forces from Abkhazia on the border with Donbas12/18/2014
• From tangerine paradise to Ukrainian hell: Russian contract soldiers pressed to fight in Ukraine 2/4/2015
• Servicemen of the 7th Russian Military Base from Abkhazia receive medals for fighting in Donbas 3/2/2015
• Conscripts of the 7th Russian Military Base massively recruited to become contract soldiers for the “Ukrainian missions”. 3/6/2015
• “Courageous Mihos” – a scout of the 7th Military Base, holder of medal For Courage3/18/2015
• More soldiers from 7th Military Base received Combat Medals after temporary duties in Ukraine5/13/2015
• ‘Cinderellas’ with Self-propelled Artillery Systems or How Russian Contract Servicemen are Posing as ‘Self-defence’ 6/23/2015
• The Сover Story of the ‘Former’ Soldier of the 7th Russian Base Does not Hold Water 6/30/2015
• Massive Deployment of the Russian Troops And Equipment from the Occupied Abkhazia Is Registered 9/22/2015
• Russia Deploys the Military Equipment of the 7th Base to Rostov Oblast 09/23/2015
• Russian Contract Soldier from the 7th Base Fights as ‘DPR’ Militant09/25/2015
• ‘Bored silly’: the Russian Invaders’ Games in Donbas01/10/2016
• ‘Double Strike’ to the Russian Officers from the Southern Military District02/05/2016
• Journey of Russian Occupant: Gudauta – Rostov – Donbas – Khmeimim 28/03/2016
• The Dynasty of Russian War Criminals: Biographic Narrative of the Invader 07/22/2016 Biography occupier07/22/2016
• Emperor’s new clothes – or Putin exposed9/16/2016
• Documents revealing personnel of another Russian BTG on a “Rostov-Ukrainian mission”10/06/2016
• 21 of 35: Russian artillerymen of the 7th Military Base involved in shelling of Ukraine identified 11/11/2016
• Love Story 3: love triangle of a Russian occupant 11/21/2016

Databases of identified Russian military personnel and evidence of their involvement in the fighting in Ukraine on the side of the Russian-terrorist forces are available here: https://informnapalm.org/en/category/top-investigations/

• Personnel and armament of the 7th Military Base of the Russian occupation forces

  The 7th Krasnodar Red Banner Order of Kutuzov and the Red Star Military Base, military unit 09332 (Gudauta, occupied Abkhazia, Georgia), includes:

  

  Structure

  Command; four mechanized infantry battalions; sniper company; MBT battalion; two self-propelled artillery battalions and one battery of towed howitzers; rocket artillery battalion; antitank artillery battalion; Antiaircraft missile battalion and an antiaircraft artillery missile battalion (parts of the so-called Anti-aircraft battalion group of the 7th Military Base); reconnaissance Battalion; UAV company;

  – Engineer battalion; NBC company; control (communications) battalion; EW company; control and artillery reconnaissance battery (of the artillery commander); control and radar reconnaissance platoon (of air defense commander); control Platoon (of reconnaissance commander); maintenance battalion; logistics battalion; headquarters company; medical company; instructors platoon; training simulator platoon; training range; brass band.

  The military base also includes a so-called aviation command office providing ground support for periodic flights of the Russian Airforce planes to the airfield in Gudauta. An anti-aircraft missile regiment (formerly the 100th Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment, military unit 90100), consisting of 2 SAM battalions in Agudzera and Primorskoye, which have 8 units of S-300 SAM’s on combat alert (make part of the so-called anti-aircraft battalion group of the 7th military base). The base also has an electronic technical unit with alert facilities deployed on the airfield of Sukhumi Babushara Airport.

  Armament:

  – T-90A and T-72B3 main battle tanks – 41 pcs. (51 pcs. according to other sources);

  – BTR-82AM and BTR-80 armored personnel carriers (APC) – 156 pcs.;

  – MT-LB light multi-purpose armored towing vehicles – 15 pcs.;

  – BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launcher systems – 18 pcs.;

  – 2S3M Akatsiya 152-mm self-propelled howitzers – 36 pcs.;

  – D-30 122-mm self-propelled howitzers – 6 pcs.;

  – 2S12 Sani 120-mm mortars – 18 pcs.;

  – MT-12 Rapira 100mm anti-tank guns – 12 pcs.;

  – Shturm-S self-propelled anti-tank missile systems – 12 pcs.;

  – BRDM-2 armored reconnaissance vehicles – 4 pcs.;

  – 9A33BM2(3) Osa surface-to-air missile systems (SAM) – 12 pcs.;

  – 9A34(35) Strela-10 SAM’s on armored vehicle mounts – 6 pcs.;

  – 2S6M Tunguska self-propelled anti-aircraft guns – 6 pcs.;

  – 9K38 Igla man portable surface-to-air missiles – 27 pcs.;
  The armament of the base also includes S-300PM SAM launchers – 16 pcs. In addition, in accordance with an agreement on joint armed forces between the Russian Federation and unrecognized Republic of Abkhazia signed in Moscow on November 21, 2015, two mechanized infantry battalions, artillery and aviation groups, as well as a separate special operations group have been attached by Abkhazia to the 7th Military Base.

  Except for a few of our additions, this note is based on the data from milkavkaz.net.

This publication is based on an OSINT-investigation by the InformNapalm international volunteer group.

Author Irakli Komaxidze 

Identification of locations Vidal Sorokin 

Cover illustration Lukyan Turetsky

Translated by Artem Velichko

Edited by Max Alginin

(CC BY) Information specially prepared for InformNapalm.org site, an active link to the authors and our project is obligatory for any reprint or further use of the material.

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