Mark Krutov Profile picture
Sep 27, 2022 15 tweets 6 min read Read on X
🧵 Here's a video of a Russian soldier who was mobilized recently. He was sent to the "1st tank regiment" (probably 2nd Guards Motor Rifle Division) and says they will be sent to Kherson in 2 days without any basic training. I found his VK and reached out to him.
Here's full translation of his address. 1/2: "Hi everyone, the first tank regiment is here. We were officially told that there would be no training before we will be sent to the war zone. The regiment’s commanders confirmed this. On September 29 we’re will be sent to Kherson".
Translation, 2/2: "Think for yourself, decide for yourself what to do with it in the future. There was no shooting training, no theoretical training, nothing".
I found Vkontakte account of this man. Yesterday he posted a photo of himself in the barracks.
Answering a comment which said "how unexpectedly!" he describes how he ended up there: "Yes, I didn't expect it too. Was sleeping after the night shift. They woke me up and gave me a subpoena [to show up in the Military reg. office]
The guy was living and working in Moscow. He doesn't seem to be anti-Western or "patriotic". He even reposted this meme which says "Patriotism is a good explainer why should we live worse than others".
I asked him if he can elaborate on his complaints. He answered "Can't talk now, things have changed drastically, hopefully for the better".
I'm pretty sure the video was indeed filmed in Kalininets, Moscow region, which hosts 2nd Guards Motor Rifle Division (big boards design, buildings coloring) 55.547195, 36.967826 +/- 80 m
This division struggled a heavy defeat in Izum during UA counter offensive. It's soldiers asked their commanders to let them quit fighting even before Russia retreated from the area.
My geolocation matches the public info: it's a parade ground of the unit 23626, the 1st tank regiment. Back in may @agents_media reported conscripts were sent to Ukraine from there and upon return they didn't get their combat payments. agents.media/obmanuli/
Barracks photo from his VK matches the photo of barracks of this unit posted earlier on VK. (By yet another newly mobilized Muscovite, 39 years old)
"It's our turn now to recall our youth", the man who also posts from there says. He even publishes a photo of his subpoena whish asked him to shop up On Sep. 29th. This enthusiast did it even earlier.
("Which asked him to show up", sorry for the typos)
Ukrainian TG channels publish a video with Russian POW, who says he's from the same unit, 23626 (t.me/Tsaplienko/167…). There's one more video with him. He says he was mobilized on Sep. 21st. Unfortunately, I was not yet able to confirm his identity/authenticity of the video.
More photos of mobilized men, taken at the same location in Kalininets, where the 2nd Guards Taman Motor Rifle Division is hosted. "We sleep on the floor for the 3rd day in a row. No training, nothing. We were told that we depart to Donetsk in 3 days" (yaplakal.com/forum2/topic25…)

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More from @kromark

Sep 23
🧵/ link in the last post. With @Maja_Zivanovic & @MilosKatic, we spoke to a Serbian mercenary who fought for Russia in Ukraine from Nov '22 to June '23. He revealed poor training, tensions with Russian commanders, and shell companies behind recruiting Serbs for the war. Image
Serbs fighting for Russia since 2014 (via 'Wagner' then) isn’t new, but we seem to be the first Western media journalists to interview one. Of course, we didn’t take his words (and photos he provided) at face value; we corroborated them with other sources, including OSINT.
Dragan (name changed for security reasons) fought for the 'Volki' ('Wolves') unit, led by Bosnian Serb Davor Savicic (on the left). Our guy was recruited by the infamous Dejan Beric (on the right), who has stayed abroad since joining Russian forces in Ukraine in 2014.
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Read 46 tweets
Sep 6
🧶"They cut our money, that's a fact." 40+ pages of WhatsApp messages between U.S.-indicted Alexander Ionov and his FSB handlers depict RU agents as both funny and miserable, yet still malicious. For instance, it appears Ionov was instrumental in helping to ban @occrp in Russia.
Those WhatsApp chats also suggest how Ionov and the FSB agents (who used iCloud to back up their WhatsApp data) were busted. Image
We identified all 4 FSB agents whose phone numbers appeared in the chat and called them. 2 of 4 answered. One, Vistoropsky, seemed reluctant to change his number after the U.S. court reveal because it was 'fancy' and probably had cost him a lot 😅 Image
Read 9 tweets
Sep 5
🧵/ link in the last post. Andrey Averyanov, ex-head of GRU sabotage unit 29155, visited Israel twice before the war in Ukraine, including Feb 10, 2022, when Israeli PM Naftali Bennett urged the EU not to renew the Iran nuclear deal. Averyanov then began frequent trips to Iran. Image
A leaked Russian border database shows Averyanov, linked to Skripal's poisoning, Vrbetice explosions, and Khangoshvili's assassination, visited Israel for just one day on Feb 8 and 10, 2022, ruling out 'tourism' was a purpose.
Right after, Averyanov began frequent trips to Iran. The first was on June 1st, 2022, 25 days before Josep Borrell’s visit to Tehran, where he tried to revive the Iran nuclear deal. reuters.com/world/eus-borr…
Read 18 tweets
Aug 31
📉1/2 Interesting case. 2 'Pantsirs' were installed near the Kubinka airfield in Moscow oblast in Aug. '23, prior to the 'Army-2023' forum. Not later than in April '24 one of them was removed, though the forum took place there that year too. HR satellite images by @planet.
2/2 You can find this and other Russian post-war air defense positions in Moscow and Moscow Oblast, including some on top of garbage piles and 'Flakturm' towers, on my dynamic map here: google.com/maps/d/u/0/edi…
This 'Pantsir' in Koncheevo, Moscow Oblast, has been added to the map as well. It can also be seen on the updated 2024 Yandex 'Street View'.
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Read 4 tweets
Aug 27
1/4 🌉The Russian army constructed a 4th pontoon bridge across the Seym River in the Kursk oblast, near Zvannoye, 1.8 kilometers from the damaged main bridge (51.382030, 34.528200 @GeoConfirmed). It can be seen on @planet satellite image taken yesterday, on Aug. 26th Image
2/4 This @planet HR satellite image shows both the new pontoon bridge and the old stationary bridge, which was damaged by Ukraine earlier. Image
3/4 Ukraine has already targeted two Russian pontoon bridges across the Seym River: one between Zvannoye and Glushkovo, and another east of Glushkovo.
Read 7 tweets
Aug 19
A high-resolution @planet satellite image taken on Aug. 17th shows the pontoon bridge across the Seym River, constructed by the Russians between Aug. 15 and Aug. 16, east of Glushkovo village in Kursk Oblast (51.35109, 34.67668), after Ukraine began targeting bridges in the area.
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Yet another pontoon bridge across the Seym river build built by Russians east of Zavannoe (51.376050, 34.612800). Satellite image by @planet taken on August, 17th. Image
A screenshot from our dynamic Kursk Offensive map (), showing destroyed/damaged bridges (bridge icons) and pontoon bridges (shark icons) across the Seym river in Kursk oblast, Russia: smarturl.click/O0Xla
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Read 5 tweets

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