{"id":7206,"date":"2015-12-29T14:22:02","date_gmt":"2015-12-29T14:22:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/?p=7206"},"modified":"2015-12-29T14:40:46","modified_gmt":"2015-12-29T14:40:46","slug":"dec18-291-crimes-part1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/dec18-291-crimes-part1\/","title":{"rendered":"War Crimes of Russian 291st Brigade in War Against Ukraine. Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

The local antiterrorist operation in the Eastern Ukraine could end 1.5 years ago, when the Ukrainian servicemen had a successful advance against armed gangs\u2019 forces and were close to encircling them near the state border in Luhansk Oblast. Realizing that militants had not enough forces, Russian Armed Forces started a tactics of rocket-artillery strikes from the Russian territory of Rostov Oblast. Right after that they invaded Ukraine with their tactical groups, which were concentrated along the border. There is a lot of evidence, which describe what happened those days and, despite\u00a0the attempts of\u00a0the Russian security services to prevent any informational leak, the global network still has information which proves the fact of the invasion. The\u00a0InformNapalm international volunteer community has decided to present a set\u00a0of investigations, in terms of which we will present additional proofs of the participation of the Russian artillery in a war in Donbas. This will include the information about particular units and the Russian criminals of war, who were taking part in the shelling of the Ukrainian forces from the foreign territory.<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n

Back in September 2014, InformNapalm had presented a combined information about the Russian invasion forces group<\/a>, which was concentrated along the border of Ukraine in the Rostov Oblast of Russia. Then we collected the information about the artillery units<\/a><\/span> of Russian army<\/a> group, which was then reflected in further publications supporting the statement of participation of particular Russian army’s units in the\u00a0hybrid war. Some investigations did mention\u00a0the 291<\/span>st<\/span> artillery brigade (1<\/a>, 2<\/a>, 3<\/a>).<\/span>\u00a0The information which includes all facts of the invasion was reflected in the material named\u00a0‘Professional Russian army in Ukraine. Database and Visualization<\/a>‘.<\/span><\/p>\n

The number one in our list of the Russian artillery units was the 291<\/span>st<\/span> separate artillery brigade (military unit\u00a0No.\u00a064670, Troitskaya, Republic of Ingushetia, the 58<\/em><\/span>th<\/span><\/em>\u00a0general army, Southern Military District of the Russian Armed forces<\/em>). It was then noticed numerous times in terms of ‘Rostov-Ukrainian assignments’. Moreover, in October of 2015 we assumed<\/a><\/span>\u00a0that trucks\u00a0and towed\u00a0artillery which were noticed in Syria are part of the 291<\/span>st<\/span> artillery brigade, and then after a month this guess was\u00a0proved<\/a><\/span> as a result of our own reconnaissance of open data.<\/span><\/p>\n

This publication opens new facts of participation of artillerists from the 291<\/span>st<\/span> brigade in the war in Donbas. It will become the first in a new series of investigations, where we are going to disclose the information about military units and separate Russian criminals of war, who were executing\u00a0illegal orders.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ilnur Ilsurovich Afliatunov<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0was born on July 20, 1990, and now lives in the city\u00a0of Kazan, Russia (archives of\u00a0profile<\/a><\/span>, picture albums<\/span>\u00a01<\/a>, 2<\/a>, 3<\/a>\u00a0and contacts<\/a>)<\/span>. His mother\u2019s name is Nuria Afliatunova<\/a><\/strong><\/span>, his sister is Nailia Galiakhmetova.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

I. Afliatunov<\/strong> was conscripted for military service in late 2013 and was assigned to serve in the Northern Caucasus in the 291<\/span>st<\/span> separate artillery brigade, located in Republic of Ingushetia, where he became a part of the heavy howitzers division (armed with 2A65 ‘Msta-B’ 152mm howitzers). In mid summer 2014, when the armed collision in Donbas became acute, junior sergeant Afliatunov left the military service. However, his military career did not end at that point, he had signed a 3 year contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense to serve in the same 291 artillery brigade. According to his leave certificate, issued to him in the military unit No.\u00a064670, starting from December 24, 2014, till January 23, 2015, Afliatunov was on leave and had then returned to the place of unit deployment.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Pictures of illegal shelling of the territory of Ukraine from the territory of Rostov Oblast\u00a0of Russia during the period of Summer-Autumn 2014 were uploaded to his VKontakte social network profile in September, 2014 (section ‘Saved pictures of Ilnur’<\/em>). As it was informed before, there was a number of other pictures from the Kamenskiy raion\u00a0of Rostov Oblast\u00a0which belonged to other artillerists from the 291<\/span>st<\/span> brigade, and which were reflected in other InformNapalm materials. Dates when those pictures were taken, landscape, the way equipment and guns were masked together with informal\u00a0uniforms of servicemen who looked like those from ‘Novorossiya’ is the evidence in itself.<\/span><\/p>\n

2014 <\/b>(picture archives\u00a01<\/a>, 2<\/a>, 3<\/a>, 4<\/a>, 5<\/a>, 6<\/a>, 7<\/a>, 8<\/a>, 9<\/a>, 10<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"Bd9ASyhQJcY\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"tUViGk7dXQo\"<\/a>\u00a0\"Bl2QTLnRxjw\"<\/a>\u00a0\"ksoWiVzDeE4\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"3CTfeZKJeyU\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"FYfS77H_-nA\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"ZRF0U2TRbY0\"<\/a>\u00a0\"lsQW1iB4U3U\"<\/a> \"pLqL3pmdr4Y\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Among pictures, published on social network profiles of Afliatunov\u2019s family members we can see several military awards: a gorget ‘For service in Caucasus’, awarded according to the order No.\u00a0888 dated on\u00a0October 1, 2014, and signed by the commander of military unit No.\u00a064670; anniversary medal ’20 years of 58<\/span>th<\/span> army’ and a medal ‘For battle honors<\/strong>‘ (archives 1<\/a>, 2<\/a>, 3<\/a>, 4<\/a><\/span>) awarded on the basis of the order of the Russian Ministry of Defense No.\u00a0677 dated on\u00a0October 2, 2015 (medal number is\u00a02266). We can also see pictures of a sergeant strap together with the order No.\u00a04 dated on\u00a0June 11, 2015 and signed by the commander of military unit No. 64670, who\u00a0awarded Afliatunov the rank of sergeant<\/a><\/span>. We can also see a leave certificate<\/a><\/span>\u00a0No. 544 dated on\u00a0December 24, 2014, and signed by temporary executive commander of the same military unit.<\/span><\/p>\n

Note<\/strong>: medal ‘For battle honors<\/a>‘<\/span>\u00a0<\/a>is an institutional award of the Ministry of Defense, which is given to servicemen of the Russian Armed forces in the following cases:<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n