1/ The Russian officer who oversaw the occupation of Bucha in 2022, during which an estimated 458 Ukrainians were murdered, has been targeted by a bomb attack in the Russian Far East. Major General Azatbek Omurbekov's condition is currently unknown; another officer was killed. ⬇️
2/ According to VChK-OGPU, the attack took place on 28 April at a military garrison located in the village of Knyaze-Volkonskoye-1 in the Khabarovsk Krai. A bomb exploded in a mailbox, killing Lieutenant Colonel Kuzmenko, the commander of the training communications battalion.
3/ The target appears to have been Major General Azatbek Omurbekov, who has been the head of the 392nd District Training Centre for Junior Specialists of the Eastern Military District since 2023.
4/ As a colonel in 2022, he commanded the 64th Separate Motorised Rifle Brigade, which operated in Bucha near Kyiv during the notorious massacre in February-March 2022. His condition after the explosion is not known, and no claim of responsibility has been made.
5/ A combat diary from the time recorded how the brigade carried out a 'zatchistka' or 'cleansing' operation during which Ukrainian civilians were rounded up and shot. The brigade's role in massacres was described by one of its soldiers in August 2022.
6/ According to the soldier, Daniil Frolkin, during a five-week occupation of the village of Andriivka, Omurbekov ordered soldiers to fire at civilian vehicles, as well as to kill “anyone you find who has a phone.”
7/ Omurbekov was said to have aroused the hatred of his men by staying in a basement for days on end while casualties mounted. Within 4 months of the invasion, at least 25% of the brigade's men were dead. Only 50 of Frolkin's battalion of 300 were still alive when he deserted.
8/ When some of the soldiers began to refuse to carry out his orders, Omurbekov "started to freak out, hit one guy with the rifle butt in the face, held a gun to another guy’s head and was like: 'I’m gonna shoot you right here and get away with it.'"
9/ As many other Russian commanders have done and continue to do in the war, Omurbekov was said to have faked reports of his military successes. He ordered his men to pose for 'photo reports' – sometimes while they were still under fire – to send glowing reports to his superiors.
10/ This ended up getting Omurbekov wounded when he falsely reported that a forest had been captured and was subsequently injured there in a Ukrainian attack. It worked out for him, though, as he was evacuated and given awards for his 'courage'.
11/ Omurbekov is an ethnic Kyrgyz, born in Uzbekistan and educated in a small town in Siberia. While this would normally have been a hindrance to progression in an army dominated by ethnic Russians, he comes from a long-standing military family.
12/ His father was a colonel in the Soviet border guards and his grandfather was a Soviet WW2 veteran. It's likely that his family history and connections have played an important role in his rapid rise to a generalship. /end
Source:
t.me/rucriminalinfo…
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