{"id":10084,"date":"2017-01-02T08:39:49","date_gmt":"2017-01-02T08:39:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/?p=10084"},"modified":"2017-01-02T08:47:31","modified_gmt":"2017-01-02T08:47:31","slug":"879-assault-battalion-marines-syria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/879-assault-battalion-marines-syria\/","title":{"rendered":"879 Assault Battalion Marines in Syria"},"content":{"rendered":"

Evidence of participation of marines from the 879th assault battalion of 336th Separate Marine Infantry Brigade of the Baltic Fleet in the ground operations in Syria.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The OSINT investigation of social network profiles of Russian servicemen by volunteers of InformNapalm international intelligence community (IN) discovered new evidence of the \u201cSyrian mission\u201d of marines from the Baltic Fleet.<\/p>\n

In the fall of 2014 IN started monitoring servicemen from the 879th assault battalion of 336th Separate Marine Infantry Brigade (military unit #06117, located in the town of Baltiysk, Kaliningrad Oblast) of the Baltic Fleet, who were discovered near the Ukrainian border in Voronezh oblast in June 2014. Later, in November 2014, a company tactical group of this battalion was observed in Rostov Oblast, near Millerovo base camp of the Russian invasion force aimed at Ukraine (read more in \u201cUnits of 336th Marine Infantry Brigade as part of invasion forces<\/a>\u201d). A year later, in November 2015, IN volunteers published a report on<\/a> A. Serdiukov, a serviceman from the 336th Brigade, whose presence was registered in the Syrian province of As-Suwayda. After the publication came out, Serdiukov\u2019s social profile page was erased by Russian security services.<\/p>\n

Three years after the first observations of the 879th battalion, IN has found new photo evidence that proves the participation of this unit\u2019s marines in the ground operation in Syria. The evidence includes a selfie http:\/\/archive.is\/2FV2c<\/a>, published on December 11, 2016 by a contract soldier Ivan Varzin https:\/\/vk.com\/id93578658 in his social network profile. (archives of the profile http:\/\/archive.is\/R9iGr, photo albums http:\/\/archive.is\/NmQW6 and contacts http:\/\/archive.is\/c0bms). Presumably, this picture was taken in the summer of 2016. It shows Russian servicemen, wearing expeditionary forces\u2019 uniforms, preparing combat positions.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/a>
\nIN also checked the contact list of I. Varzin. There we can find more marines from the same battalion. Their social network profiles show direct and indirect evidence of their participation in the war in Syria.<\/p>\n

A group picture http:\/\/archive.is\/WRaP1<\/a> of marines from the same battalion was published in the social network profile of Semen Posmor<\/strong> https:\/\/vk.com\/id19813453<\/a> (archives of the profile http:\/\/archive.is\/yC6ZL, photo \u00a0albums http:\/\/archive.is\/zFL0s, contacts http:\/\/archive.is\/gipFg). The picture, which shows seven servicemen, wearing expeditionary forces uniforms, was uploaded on June 22, 2016.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/a>
\nThe photo uploaded in July 2016 by a marine from the same battalion Evgeniy Kharchenko<\/a> (archives of the<\/i> profile<\/i><\/a>,<\/i> photo album<\/i><\/a>,<\/i> contacts<\/i><\/a>), <\/i>which shows the stock image of the medal of Russian Ministry of Defense \u201cTo Participant of the Military Operation in Syria\u201d also suggests the participation in a \u201cSyrian mission\u201d. It seems he\u2019s trying to brag about the medal before having actually received it, dropping advance hints about his involvement.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

InformNapalm community sees many similarities between \u201cSyrian missions\u201d of Russian army and navy units and their \u201cRostov-Ukraine missions\u201d. Units sent into combat are usually formed into company or battalion task groups, staffed with contract servicemen. Military units which had already gained some military experience in the Donbas usually end up in Syria as well. InformNapalm has already identified in Syria 16 Russian army and navy units:<\/p>\n