Open source investigators identify Russian sniper in Donbas

Inform Napalm, an international open-source investigating community, says it has identified a Russian contract serviceman fighting as a sniper with Russian-led forces in the Donbas.

Having studied scores of photos published by Russian-led fighters on social networks since 2014, the activists identified Russian national Yuriy Petrov – a sniper serving with the 40th Marine Brigade based in the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and attached to Russia’s Pacific Fleet.

Petrov, originally from the city of Yakutsk in Russia’s far east, on his archived VKontakte page did not hide that he has been a contracted sniper with the 40th Brigade since at least 2013, posting scores of photos and comments on his everyday military routine.

In October 2017, he was also photographed together with a Russian sniper originally from the city of Saint Petersburg, who identified himself as Sergey Zhuravlev. The photo posted on Zhuravlev’s Vkontakte page was allegedly taken at a military installation of the 7th Motorized Rifle Brigade of Russian-led forces based in the Russian-occupied city of Bryanka in Ukraine’s Luhansk Oblast, some 620 kilometers southeast of Kyiv.

Petrov also can be seen in other group photos posted on social media by Russian-led fighters as they were deployed as a sniper company to the base in Bryanka, Inform Napalm activists said.

On Jan. 3, 2018, Petrov also posted pictures showing his airplane tickets for a flight from the city of Rostov-on-Don to Moscow and then to his home city of Yakutsk. Rostov-on-Don is the main transfer point for Russian regular soldiers, mercenaries and volunteer fighters traveling between Russia and the Russian-occupied parts of the Donbas.

The post’s geotag also showed that the picture was taken in the city of Rostov.

However, Petrov’s Vkontakte page has now been deleted. The Russian intelligence services are believed to have control of the website.

According to Inform Napalm activists, Petrov represents a typical case of a Russian regular military serviceman being secretly deployed to the Russian-occupied Donbas for combat missions. Meanwhile, Russia propaganda spotlights non-Russian sniper warlords like Dejan Beric, a Serbian national in the ranks of Russian-led forces in the Donbas.

“The aggressor’s sniper spotter-firer teams consist of both Russian career military servicemen and mercenaries trained at Russian boot camps,” Inform Napalm wrote. “With that, one should know that the ‘snipers’ who are propaganda heroes are not those actually fulfilling combat missions.”

Russia denies sending its regular troops into Ukraine to fight Ukrainian forces, but abundant evidence collected since 2014 has proved these denials are false.