In July 2023, in the occupied village of Bakhmutske, Donetsk region, the Russian military killed seven fellow servicemen who refused to follow the orders. The men were first blown up with grenades, then shot and burned. The collage shows the photos of the Russian military who are suspected of murdering their fellow servicemen. The photos are from their pages on social media or the pages of their relatives
July 4, 2023, early morning. A “UAZ Patriot” vehicle departs from the occupied town of Popasna, Luhansk region. There are nine Russian military in it. Only two of them have weapons. The UAZ is moving to the front line, to the village of Bakhmutske, Donetsk region. There is another car ahead, with three men in the military uniforms in it. Around seven o’clock in the morning, both cars stop near a private house. Seven unarmed men from the UAZ are forced to go down to the basement. As soon as they enter, five grenades are thrown there. One of the military goes to check whether all his “brothers-in-arms” have died. The survivors are shot with a pistol. To hide the crime, the bodies of the men and the UAZ are burned.
This story is a brief description of the criminal case against the leadership of the 6th motorized division of the Russian Federation. From its own sources, the “Suspilne” investigative editorial office obtained a copy of the resolution of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, from which we found out that in 2023, the commanders of this division not only gave orders to imprison and torture their servicemen, but also killed at least seven of them, including officers.
The journalists checked the received information and verified it. They also spoke with the relatives of the killed Russian military, the wife of the general, who is considered the organizer of the crime, and those who managed to survive.
We are making this story public because it concerns not only the events in the occupied part of Ukraine and the Russian-Ukrainian war, but also shows the attitude of the Russian army and the state towards its military. In the Russian mass media, which call themselves opposition, there are articles about murders and torture in the army of the aggressor country, which took place even before the war in Ukraine and continue now. In particular, back in the autumn of 2022, “Astra” wrote about the basements where the Russian military held their fellow servicemen. The case, which the “Suspilne” journalists learned about and which without us would probably have never become public in totalitarian Russia, is another reminder of what a cruel and lawless enemy Ukraine is fighting against. This enemy is cruel and lawless even to own servicemen.
They were kept in the basement without food and water, and were tortured
The 6th motorized division of the Western Military District of the Russian Army was organized in 2022. It includes several regiments formed mainly from conscripted soldiers, in particular the 1486th, 1008th and 1307th regiments.
avatars.mds.yandex.net Colonel Marat Ospanov, call sign “Levant viper”, was appointed the division commander. He is 53 years old now.
In the spring of 2023, the military personnel from the units of the 6th division began to complain about service conditions and poor treatment. In particular, the soldiers from the 1307thregiment said in a video in early June that they were “cannon fodder”.
As the Yurga website muksun.fm wrote, the complaints were about “unbearable service conditions”: it was impossible to wash, to buy groceries, they had to fight with broken or insufficient equipment, and there was no evacuation from the battlefield. According to the website, the regional human rights commissioner responded to the complaints.
After the story became public, as dzen website later reported, the commander of the regiment was changed. However, according to the article, the wrong person was changed. The journalists claimed that division commander Marat Ospanov was responsible for the bad attitude towards the military.
The resolution of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation on the opening of a criminal case, which was received by the ‘Suspilne” investigative editorial office, states that in May 2023, around the time the complaints began to appear, Ospanov ordered his subordinates to detain and illegally hold military personnel who “violated military discipline and refused to follow the orders, and also committed other misdemeanors”.
“Ospanov, for the purpose of intimidation and wanting to achieve the strict execution of orders and military discipline in an illegal way, created an organized group, which included the subordinate military,” the document says.
Ospanov instructed his deputy for military and political work, 44-year-old colonel Stanislav Ivanisov, to organize the detention of the military.
Deputy commander of the 6thdivision, Colonel Stanislav Ivanisov, with his wife and children. Ivanisov’s page on the Russian social media
Another deputy commander, 41-year-old colonel Evgeniy Malyshko with call sign “Voronezh”, “was appointed responsible for the killing of servicemen who, in Ospanov’s opinion, could not be corrected,” the document states.
Evgeniy Malyshko, deputy commander of the 6th motorized division of the Russian Federation. Screenshot from his interview to Omsk Channel 12
Detention of servicemen for disobedience began on May 11, 2023. In total, 19 Russian military were involved in the case. All of them were kept at different times and for different periods in the basements of several buildings in Popasna, Luhansk region: at 146 Myr Street, 33 and 39 Koshovyi Street. They were kept “without toilets, without conditions for maintaining hygiene, without sleeping places, with limited water and food”. 11 of them were released at the beginning of September by military prosecutors who started the investigation.
According to the Russian investigators, in the basement of this building at 146 Myr Street, the command of the 6th division kept soldiers who did not follow orders. Screenshot of a Google satellite image taken in 2024
According to Ospanov, eight detainees were “not subject to correction”. Six of them were the military of the 1307thmotorized regiment: Captains Nikolay Kozlovskiy and Yuriy Snytnikov, Sergeants Artur Galimov and Igor Kolomiytsev, Private Ilya Borisov, Corporal Alexei Aver. Two others were Lieutenant Valeriy Grushetskiy from the 1008th motorized regiment and Senior Lieutenant Artyom Fadeev from the 1486th regiment.
From these eight, only Borisov, who was a medical instructor of the squad for collecting and evacuating the wounded, survived. The man was born in 2001. At the end of June, he and five other detainees from his regiment were released from custody, because the representatives of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation came to inspect the division. Borisov was immediately sent to the front line, and then he was wounded and taken to hospital. This saved him from death.
Ilya Borisov with his mother Olga. Photo from his mother’s page on the Russian social media, 2018
After the inspection of the Ministry of Defense, Colonel Ivanisov returned the rest of the military to the basement at 39 Koshovyi Street by order of Ospanov, the resolution of the Russian Investigative Committee says.
All of them, according to the Russian law enforcement officers, were subjected to torture: they were beaten “with feet, fists, as well as with various objects and special tools on the face and body”. This, according to the Russian investigators, was the reason for the killing of the military: the command of the 6th division tried to hide the illegal detention and beating.
Five grenades, seven shots
In early July, according to the document obtained by “Suspilne”, General Ospanov ordered his deputy Malyshko to take seven prisoners to the front line and kill them.
To carry out the order, Colonel Evgeniy Malyshko involved several subordinates from the 6th division: Major Evgeniy Boriskin, Ensign Evgeniy Chukanov, Senior Ensign Gennadiy Muryy, and Senior Sergeant Roman Timonin. All of them became subjects for the investigation.
Ensign Evgeniy Chukanov with his wife Victoria. According to the Russian law enforcement, Chukanov was one of those who detonated grenades to kill seven Russian military. Photo from the social media
At 4 o’clock in the morning on July 4, seven detainees were taken out of the basement on Koshovyi Street in Popasna and put in the “UAZ Patriot” driven by Ensign Chukanov. Major Boriskin was sitting near the driver. Colonel Malyshko, Sergeant Timonin and Ensign Muryy were driving ahead in another car – “UAZ Pickup”.
In two hours, both cars entered the village of Bakhmutske, Donetsk region. The military chose a house with a basement, took seven prisoners there, and then Boriskin, Chukanov, and Timonin detonated “no less than five F-1 hand anti-personnel defensive grenades”.
poteru.net After the explosion of the grenades, Major Evgeniy Boriskin went down to the basement to check if the military were still alive and shot the survivors. The resolution states that he “fired at least seven shots from a 6P9 silent pistol”.
The dead bodies and the “UAZ Patriot” vehicle were burned. According to the Russian investigators, this was done by Timonin and Muryy, following the orders of Malyshko who, in turn, was following the order of Ospanov.
The resolution of investigator Shishov
In April 2024, the journalists of the “Suspilne” investigative editorial office received the resolution dated March 22, 2024 on the opening of a criminal case against the military of the 6th division.
The resolution on the opening of a criminal case was signed by investigator Sergey Shishov. Copy of the last page of the resolution
The document was signed by Sergey Shishov, an investigator in particularly important cases of the main military investigative department of the Investigative Committee of Russia. Colonel Shishov’s name appeared in the Russian mass media in 2023. It was he who investigated the case against the deputy commander of the 74th motorized brigade, Irek Magasumov, who was accused of murdering an 18-year-old girl in Luhansk.
Before investigating the crimes of the Russian military in occupied Luhansk region, Shishov worked in the military investigation department of the Northern Fleet of the Russian Federation.
Colonel Sergey Shishov. Photo from the page on the Russian social media
From Shishov’s resolution, we found out that the investigation against the leadership of the 6th motorized division is being conducted under three articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation: abuse of authority, illegal deprivation of liberty, and murder.
“My son is missing. Help”
To verify the investigator’s resolution, we decided to find information about each of those who appear in the document.
Despite the fact that more than a year has passed since the murder, we have not found any publications in the media or social networks about this case in the 6th division. We came across only two mentions about the arrests of Ospanov and Malyshko in the comments on social media.
On April 6, 2024, under a laudatory post about Marat Ospanov back in 2012, a woman named Irina Kisilyova wrote, “And now this scum is behind bars, we are waiting for the verdict for the murder of Russian soldiers, his subordinates. The criminal case was opened on March 22, 2024 in the Luhansk People’s Republic. We really hope for a fair court verdict for all his crimes”.
Russian social media On April 6, 2024, there was a mentioning on the Russian social media that Ospanov had been arrested.
In addition, on January 21, 2024, in the chat of one of the propaganda Telegram channels, there was a commentabout Malyshko’s detention: “Malyshko was detained by the military counter-intelligence. He really needs helps. He has been under arrest since January 14”.
Blogger Evgeniy Dolganev reported on Malyshko’s arrest in the comments under the Telegram post. Screenshot of the comment
Regarding the killed servicemen, we managed to find only a few posts in which parents, wives or brothers and sisters reported their disappearance.
Valeriy Grushetskiy’s father was searching for him. On October 25, 2023, he made a post on his page on the social media: "My son, Grushetskiy Valeriy Ivanovich, is missing. On May 5, 2023, there was the last phone call. He said, "We were sent to…" That is all. There has been no contact for 6 months. Help."
The search for Valeriy Grushetskiy. Screenshot from the page on the Russian social media
On December 27, 2023, almost half a year after the murder, the comment about the search for Artyom Fadeev appeared in the group “Mobilization/Payments and assistance to the Special Military Operation participants” on the Russian social media. “Maybe somebody knows what happened to him and where he is. We have been looking for him for more than 4 months”, the comment says. The woman who wrote this comment did not receive any answer.
The search for Artyom Fadeev. Screenshot from the Russian social media
Relatives were looking for Artur Galimov and posted a message on the Telegram channel, “We are looking for our brother Galimov Artur Galinurovich, 20.04.1983, who was on the military register at the military commissariat of the city of Uraya, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous District, and who was conscripted for military service on September 27, 2022. Military unit 78567, regiment 1307, 2nd motorized battalion, 6th motorized company, 3rdmotorized platoon. The last contact was on June 7, 2023.
Artur Galimov was searched for via Russian Telegram groups . Screenshot of the post in the Telegram channel
Galimov’s wife Yuliya regularly made posts that she was missing her husband, but we did not find on her page any posts about his disappearance. On November 16, 2023, she wrote, “I need you very much. Where are you? Please, come back alive. We all love you very much and are waiting for you home”.
Artur Galimov’s wife, Julia, made posts that she was missing her husband. She did not post on the social media the information about his disappearance. Screenshot from her page on the Russian social media
Igor Kolomiytsev was searched for in October 2023. The post appeared in the “Search for the missing people” group. It stated that Igor served in the third platoon of the seventh company of the third battalion of the 1307thregiment, “On June 30, 2023, he was last contacted. There has been no respond to official inquiries”.
Igor Kolomiytsev was searched for in groups on the Russian social media. Screenshot of the search post
We did not find any information about the search for Captain Yuriy Snytnikov. In 2021, he was described as the veteran of labor – he had worked in the department of the federal service of bailiffs of the Kosikhinsky District (Altai Krai) for more than 20 years. His wife, Tatyana Snytnikova, works as the head of the organizational department of the administration of the Kosikhinsky district and is the secretary of the local branch of Putin’s “United Russia” party.
“It was just said that he was missing”
To get another confirmation that the document received by the editorial office is true and to find out more details in the case, we decided to phone the relatives of the killed Russian military and those who survived.
We did not hide that we were journalists, but we did not specify the country. We called ourselves the journalists of “public television”. None of those with whom we managed to communicate in the end of June asked where such a TV channel operates.
We were most interested in Ilya Borisov, a medic who survived because of a wound at the front line, and who was held together with the killed military from the 1307th regiment in the end of June 2023.
We did not manage to get in touch with him, so we phoned his mother, Olga Borisova, and explained that we wanted to talk to her son about his illegal detention in the basement.
Olga and Alexander Borisov, the parents of Sergeant Ilya Borisov who survived after being held in the basement. Photo from the page of Borisov’s mother on the Russian social media
“I do not know whether he will talk about this, because… I will ask him if he would like to talk, and your phone number, if anything… Call me back in 15 minutes,” said the woman, but later she did not pick up the phone.
From the 11 military who were freed from the basement by the military prosecutor’s office in September 2023, we managed to get in touch with Private Ivan Lukyanov from the 1307th regiment.
“I do not want to tell anything about it,” answered Ivan Lukyanov, not surprised by the question about the basement. “I will not tell anything. I am in the [frontline] position now. I do not want to tell about it. Maybe when everything is over.”
Private Ivan Lukyanov was released from the basement in Popasna by military prosecutors in September 2023. Photo from his social media page, 2023
Raisa Grushetskaya, the mother of murdered Lieutenant Valeriy Grushetskiy, after hearing that the journalists were interested in the circumstances of her son’s death, said that she had been contacted by Russian law enforcement officers and informed that she would be called to a meeting with the investigator.
According to the mother, the investigator who spoke to her did not say that her son had died. After his disappearance, says Grushetskaya, the relatives applied everywhere they could, even wrote a letter to the new Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, Andrey Belousov.
Valeriy Grushetskiy with his parents Ivan and Raisa. Photo posted by Valeriy’s father in October 2023
“I last spoke with my son last year, on May 5, 2023,” the woman says. “Then I went to his military unit. First, I was told he was fighting so there was no contact; then they said he was missing. Then they wrote a letter to me: on May 8, 2024, a document came that he had died. However, I still hope that he may be alive. I hope that he may be staying somewhere. Until the body is brought back, until it is 100% proved that it is he, I will wait and believe that he is still alive. He was conscripted in 2022. He could escape the military service because he is a single father, but he was deceived from the very beginning. He was the head of the documentation department here and he went to the [army] position of the head of the documentation department. He cannot shoot; he is blind in one eye. He said this at the military commissariat. They said he would not shoot, he was needed for the work with documents. He phoned me and said he was going to the documentation department. I told him to go and to help. However, he was not brought to the documentation department. He was brought right to the frontline.”
Valeriy Grushetskiy (in the middle) with other Russian military . Photo posted by Valeriy’s father in October 2023
When we asked if she was in touch with relatives of other military from her son’s regiment, Raisa Grushetskaya was alarmed.
“Why are you interested in this? Of course, I am in contact, but I do not want to make problems for the guys. They are still fighting, and they are still alive, so I will not give any names. If there is something special, then the guys will tell. While they are still in the risk zone, I will not make problems for them. Yes, there are still living witnesses.”
Zulfia Galimova, the mother of Sergeant Artur Galimov, also agreed to talk. According to her, the law enforcement officers did not contact her about her son.
“I do not have any information,” says the woman. “They just said he was missing. I phoned the command in Rostov region. They also said he was missing. I wrote letters but they came back. The military commissariat also says he is not among the killed, wounded, or deserters. I last spoke to him in June 2023. He said that they were going to the front line, to Klishchiivka. That is all I know. He has not called anyone since that time: neither his wife, nor me – no one at all.
Sergeant Artur Galimov last spoke to his mother in June 2023. Photo from his page on the Russian social media
According to Zulfia Galimova, she knows from the human rights commissioner in the Khanty-Mansi District that a criminal case has been opened on the illegal detention of the military from her son’s unit.
“From time to time I called her [the commissioner]. The last time was in March. She said that they were searching for my son, the military prosecutor’s office and the military investigative committee were working, and the commander – “Levant viper” – had been arrested.”
“He is in a psychiatric ward”
Before heading the 6th division, “Levant viper” or Marat Ospanov was the commander of the 57thseparate motorized brigade, and earlier – of the 152nd tank regiment.
In 2012, in the group of this regiment on the Russian social media, it was written about Ospanov that he had graduated from the Kyiv general military command school in 1992 and went to serve in the Far East. In August 2000, the Ussuriysk reconnaissance battalion headed by Ospanov was transferred to Chechnya.
On February 17, 2023, Putin awarded Ospanov the rank of Major General. In June 2023, the then alive owner of “Wagner” private military company Evgeniy Prigozhin accused Ospanov of desertion, “It is said that Ospanov has received a General rank and some high medals for Kreminna and for the crimes he committed, which are called “desertion”, because he is on good terms with his commanders”.
We failed to get in touch with Ospanov, but managed to phone his wife Irina. The woman was talkative and interested in speaking to journalists because she believes that her husband was detained without reason.
Marat and Irina Ospanov. Photo the wife’s page on the Russian social media
“He is in Donetsk. He is being examined in the psychiatric department of the hospital until July 4 (the conversation took place on June 21. – ed.),” Ospanova said. “On March 22, he was detained. There was also a search at my place. I arrived in Luhansk on April 8 and had a meeting [with him]. I also received a document from the emergency hospital that he had been beaten when he was brought to the investigative committee and kept there. He was pressured.”
Then Ospanova began to ask who initiated the article and from where we got information about the case. She was surprised when she heard that the editorial office received the information from the source in the investigative committee.
“I find it surprising that the investigative committee is interested in making this case public and that they have ordered this article. They are trying with all their might not to make this public. It is a closed case, and you have been allowed to write an article – I do not understand.”
Ospanova recalled that in the beginning, Kornievskiy, a lawyer from Luhansk, worked with her husband. Most likely, it is about Arkadiy Kornievskiy, a former employee of the Security Service of Ukraine, who in 2014 betrayed his oath and worked as an “investigator” and “prosecutor” of the separatist authorities in Luhansk. The Ukrainian law enforcement investigated his involvement in the torture of Ukrainians. Currently, on his social media page, Kornievskiy calls himself an “advocate and military lawyer”.
The woman also confirmed that not only her husband was detained within the case.
However, not all of them will be tried in the Russian court. Major Evgeniy Boriskin, “the chief of communications of the motorized regiment of the 6th division”, died on July 22, 2023 – two weeks after he threw grenades and then shot seven fellow servicemen. He was posthumously awarded the “For Courage” medal and the Order of Courage. He received the rank of major three days before his death on July 19.
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From the editorial office: This is just one of probably many proofs that the Russian army systematically commits not only war crimes, but also crimes against its own servicemen. The “Suspilne” investigative editorial office does not sympathize in any way with the Russian military killed by their own command, because they are people who took up weapons and came to the territory of our country to kill. This article is an attempt to make public things that could never become public in Russia, which is deprived of freedom of speech, and would have no chance of becoming public for the civilized world. Perhaps this will make at least some Russians fear their own army, and will give people in other countries an opportunity to better understand what kind of enemy the Armed Forces of Ukraine are withstanding.
The “Suspilne” investigative editorial office will continue to monitor the situation with the case against the leadership of the 6th division and is ready to share the resolution of the investigative committee with foreign journalists who will be interested in wider coverage of this story.
Russian war crimes and war criminals must be punished.
