🧵 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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🧵1/6 As after every Ukrainian drone attack, my dynamic map of air defense systems installed in Moscow and the Moscow Oblast gains a few new entries, thanks to multiple enthusiasts like @jembobineuse and @Dmojavensis. The most recent addition is particularly interesting. 🔽
2/6 The 'Flakturm', identical to the one we saw earlier (that the shorter and taller sections are swapped), was constructed in Bulatnikovo near Moscow 1.5 years ago, in September 2023. 55.557090, 37.664654
1/3 Russian Maj. Gen. Jaroslav Moskalik, allegedly killed today near Moscow, took part in at least two Normandy Four format meetings: in 2015, when the infamous 'Steinmeier formula' was adopted, and on Dec. 9, 2019, when Volodymyr Zelensky met Putin in person for the first time.
2/3 Moskalik also took part in a visit by a Russian delegation to Damascus, where Putin’s special envoy Alexander Lavrentyev held talks with Syrian President Bashar Assad in 2018.
🧵A Russian diplomat, pressured to leave Brussels amid espionage allegations, has been nominated for a key role in the OSCE. Another 19 diplomats were expelled too, with open sources clearly showing their ties to Russian intelligence (and yes, they liked posting on Strava).
But first things first: meet Dmitry Iordanidi, a former deputy head of the @OSCE mission to Bosnia-Herzegovina with deep experience in the Balkans, who was nominated by Moscow to lead the organization’s mission to Serbia.
Russia also nominated Iordanidi to head an OSCE program office in Kyrgyzstan’s capital, Bishkek, and for the same position in Kazakhstan’s capital, Astana. I think that falls under the ‘flood the field’ tactic.
🧵/ link in the last post. Remember Bosnian Serb Davor Savičić, who recruited Serbs to fight in Ukraine? Using a leaked database of Russian WIAs, we found he’s a GRU colonel with personal tag V-0001 ('V' for 'Волки' – 'Wolves' – as his battalion was named after his callsign).
It's well known that both 'private' military companies where Savičić fought, 'Wagner' & ‘Redut,’ were overseen by GRU (GU GSH). Previous investigations found several GRU staffers there, but it was never revealed that Savičić is a GRU colonel himself
Savičić got a shrapnel wound to his right shoulder on June 17, 2022. At that time, Russian forces were attempting to attack Severodonetsk, while the UAF were counterattacking near Izyum. The exact location where Savičić was wounded remains unknown.
🧵With my colleagues, we analyzed the Russian Main Military Medical Directorate's database on 166,000 hospitalizations in Russian MoD facilities (Jan 2022–June 2024). It's incomplete but offers insights into the Russian army's dynamics. svoboda.org/a/tysyach-rane…
First things first: THIS DATABASE SHOULD NOT BE USED TO ESTIMATE TOTALS. It doesn't have those hospitalized to civilian hospitals, very limited number of wounded in 'DNR' and 'LNR' hospitals, etc. Thanks to @MassDara and @Mortis_Banned for their comments on the data we studied.
Also, A LOT of soldiers stay for a day or 2 in a field hospital before being sent back to front. They DO NOT MAKE IT TO THIS DATABASE.
🧵/ Link in the last post. How much information can one get from a single blurred-out police video with the help of OSINT? Let’s find out together. No BS – we're talking 'possible precursors to chemical weapons or nerve agents' here, destined for Russia and seized in Spain.
Back in October 2024, Spanish police reported the seizure of 13 tons of 'chemical products' in the port of Barcelona, destined for Russia. It was claimed to be the result of a two-year-long special operation. 4 people were arrested. interior.gob.es/opencms/gl/det…
The operation was named 'Probirka' ('test tube' in Russian) and was carried out together with the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) as part of the enforcement of EU sanctions against Russia. anti-fraud.ec.europa.eu/media-corner/n…