{"id":12629,"date":"2018-02-28T19:03:56","date_gmt":"2018-02-28T19:03:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/?p=12629"},"modified":"2018-02-28T19:20:51","modified_gmt":"2018-02-28T19:20:51","slug":"22-russian-servicemen-participated-war-georgia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/22-russian-servicemen-participated-war-georgia\/","title":{"rendered":"22 Russian servicemen who participated in the war against Georgia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Volunteers of InformNapalm volunteer intelligence community have obtained personal data of 22 Russian soldiers and officers who participated in the Russian aggression against Georgia in 2008. They are servicemen of the 42nd Motorized Infantry Division (the old formation until 2009) of the 58th Army of the Russian Armed Forces. At the time of Russian aggression many of them served in the 478th Communications Battalion. Five of them have also been identified as participants of the annexation and occupation of the Ukrainian Crimea in 2014.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The new OSINT-investigation was triggered by the publication of over 100 photos covering the war of 08\/08\/08 by the former commander of the 478th Communications Battalion, who led his unit in August 2008 in the invasion to Georgia. The photos and their annotiations helped us to identify the commander\u2019s colleagues and subordinates.<\/p>\n

1. Alexey Usatov<\/h2>\n

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Date of birth: October 31, 1976. Born in Saratov in a military family. He is married and has two children.<\/p>\n

Education: Ulyanovsk Higher Military Engineering Communication School 1993-1998.<\/p>\n

Social media accounts:<\/strong> \u041e\u041a<\/a> (archived<\/em> profile <\/em>https:\/\/archive.is\/J2k9z<\/em><\/a>, photos <\/em>https:\/\/archive.is\/cQcK8<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>https:\/\/archive.is\/U6Xzl<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>http:\/\/archive.li\/Z96Xp<\/em><\/a>) \u2013 access to the profile was restricted, but Usatov inadvertently allowed public access to the photo album; VK<\/a> (<\/em>https:\/\/archive.is\/zHoJB<\/a>)<\/em>. Other inactive pages: https:\/\/archive.is\/p5h8L<\/a> and https:\/\/archive.is\/DcGpN<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Professional career:<\/strong><\/p>\n

– 1999-2004 – company commander at the 527th Armaments and Communications Equipment Storage Base (military unit 82253, Sereda district, city of Kaluga);<\/p>\n

– 2004-2006 – officer of the Communications Battalion of the 62nd military base of the Russian Military Forces in Transcaucasia (Akhalkalaki \/ Akhaltsikhe – Georgia);<\/p>\n

– 2006-2009 – commander of the 478th Separate Communications Battalion of the 42nd Motorized Rifle Division of the North Caucasus Military District \/ South Military District (military unit 55095, Kalinovskaya \/ Shali, Chechnya).<\/p>\n

Based on the comments, he retired from military service in the rank of Lieutenant Colonel a few years ago. Currently he lives with his family in Kaluga or Moscow. Presumably, he works in the fire department of the Ministry for Emergency Situations and likes doing embroidery.<\/p>\n

The comments to Usatov’s photos suggest that at the time of the Russian invasion of Georgia he commanded the 478th Communications Battalion and was in the Tskhinvali region as early as August 9, 2008. Usatov’s comments often contain such words<\/a> as “courage\u201d and \u201cheroism”. However, judging by the photographs, all the “heroism” and “courage” of the Russian soldiers of the 478th battalion was channeled into looting and robbery of abandoned Georgian shops, private houses, gardens, administrative buildings, and military units.<\/p>\n

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