{"id":5471,"date":"2015-09-22T11:45:46","date_gmt":"2015-09-22T11:45:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/?p=5471"},"modified":"2015-12-24T14:22:32","modified_gmt":"2015-12-24T14:22:32","slug":"airsoft-lovers-from-kazakhstan-fight-in-donbas-as-part-of-armed-groups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/airsoft-lovers-from-kazakhstan-fight-in-donbas-as-part-of-armed-groups\/","title":{"rendered":"Airsoft Lovers from Kazakhstan Fight in Donbas As Part of Armed Groups"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the\u00a0result of a new OSINT investigation, the InformNapalm team\u00a0revealed evidence of involvement of ‘soldiers of fortune’ and airsoft fans from Kazakhstan into\u00a0the DPR\/LPR illegal armed formations operating in the occupied territories of Donbas.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Airsoft (strikeball), battle reconstructions, and other military games which give their participants an adrenaline burst, have become popular in the last 5 years in the post-Soviet countries. The equipment and weaponry used look pretty similar to the real ones. But sometimes the innocent plastic bullet\u00a0gunplay is not enough for\u00a0the adrenaline lovers, and some of them use their skills in the real armed conflicts. It is not a secret that many Russian\u00a0military-patriotic clubs are the recruiting points of the ‘volunteers’ sent to Donbas. But nowadays\u00a0the Russian secret services also come to the neighboring countries to get fresh cannon fodder.<\/p>\n

This investigation gives\u00a0a clear\u00a0example\u00a0how professional airsoft players get into the ranks of the illegal armed formations. In particular, we will talk about the players from\u00a0Kazakhstan’s Southern capital who fight now as the LPR’s militants.<\/p>\n

Searching and identifying the ‘Novorossiya’ militants we found Ivan Zhukovsky<\/a><\/strong>, an\u00a0Almaty resident (profile archive<\/a>, album archive<\/a>, contacts archive<\/a>). At first glance, Zhukovsky’s profile does not have anything interesting – he resigned from the service in 2009\u00a0and\u00a0went into airsoft in 2013 (justified by\u00a0numerous pictures from the field trainings).<\/p>\n

\"12041725_1504575889854883_86438865_n\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"12030929_1504575903188215_1299111634_n\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"11998286_1504575906521548_1064107374_n\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"12021978_1504575883188217_771138839_n\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"12033679_1504575896521549_343627511_n\"<\/a>\"12026499_1504575893188216_32437332_n\"<\/a><\/p>\n

But having examined Ivan’s news feed column\u00a0a set of interesting records was revealed:<\/p>\n