{"id":11318,"date":"2017-06-28T18:49:37","date_gmt":"2017-06-28T18:49:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/?p=11318"},"modified":"2017-06-28T18:49:38","modified_gmt":"2017-06-28T18:49:38","slug":"donbas-russian-army-sniper-masquerading-as-a-local-rebel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/donbas-russian-army-sniper-masquerading-as-a-local-rebel\/","title":{"rendered":"Donbas: Russian army sniper masquerading as a local “rebel”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Banning of the Russian social network VK in Ukraine did not affect the capabilities of InformNapalm volunteer intelligence community to find new facts and proofs of the Russian military men participation in illegal armed groups (IAG) of Donetsk People\u2019s Republic (DPR). This OSINT investigation deals\u00a0with a sniper from the 19-th Motorized Rifle Brigade (19-th MRB) masquerading as a “Novorossia rebel” and bringing the values of the Russian world to the Donbas.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Earlier identification attempts: not a Russian mercenary, not a lieutenant<\/h2>\n

The subject of this investigation is a Russian citizen Mikhail Milovidov. He was born on Oct, 04, 1989 in Irkutsk. From late 2013 to early 2014 he was a contract sniper of the 19th MRB. He probably began his military service as a conscript in one of Central Military District boot camps, and was subsequently transferred to serve in the Caucasus, Southern Military District.<\/p>\n

We found in open sources at least two attempts to identify Milovidov. However, in both cases the findings were superficial or inaccurate.<\/p>\n

The first identification attempt was performed by Myrotvorets Center in September 2015. Milovidov was added to the terrorists and war criminals data base as a\u00a0Russian mercenary \/ IAG memeber<\/a>. Milovidov must have liked to be identified as a “Novorossia militant”, he even posted<\/a>\u00a0the screenshot from the Purgatory section in his social media account.<\/p>\n

The second identification attempt was undertaken in March 2017 on a web site of another OSINT team. According to\u00a0their data<\/a>, Milovidov is a junior lieutenant from one of the units from the Russian Central Military District, but this assumption is supported with very weak evidence.<\/p>\n

Identifying Milovidov: Russian army sniper masquerading as a “Novorossia rebel”.<\/h2>\n

Earlier attempts to identify this Russian serviceman were inaccurate, therefore in this investigation we will present a more solid evidence base. A detailed study of Mikhail Milovidov\u2019s\u00a0VK profile<\/a> (archived<\/em>\u00a0pages<\/em><\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0photos<\/em><\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0contacts<\/em><\/a>)<\/em> suggests that as of August 2016 he was, and probably still is, an active contract serviceman of the 19th MRB (military unit 20634, location: Vladikavkaz, North Ossetia, Southern Military District of Russia).<\/strong><\/p>\n

Milovidov\u2019s affiliation with the 19th MRB (directly or indirectly) is confirmed by several factors, i.e.:<\/p>\n