A number of recent stories indicate that the 76th Guards Air Assault Division of Russian Airborne Troops from Pskov has been continuing to fight in Ukraine. A decree published on the Kremlin’s website, a report of documents seized in battle by Ukrainian forces, and a report of a Pskov soldier’s death have come together to help validate recurring reports of Russian military presence in southeastern Ukraine.

The 76th Guards were first sighted in Crimea in March. As we reported at the time, they were first noticed missing from their barracks by Lev Shlosberg, a deputy from from the Yabloko party in the regional legislature, who protested against their deployment abroad to forcibly annex the Crimea and was denounced by the Pskov Region governor.

Troops of the Pskov Air Assault Division outside Belbek air field in Crimea



Now the official Kremlin web site kremlin.ru has published a notice dated August 18 of a decree by President Vladimir Putin that “the 76th Guards Air Assault Chernigov Red Banner Division of Russian Airborne Troops have been awarded the Suvorov Award for successful fulfillment of combat assignments of the command and display of the personal staff of courage and heroism.”

Meanwhile, today August 21 Andrei Lysenko, speaker for the information and analysis center of the Ukrainian Council for National Security and Defense said at a briefing in Kiev that the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) had seized two vehicles identified as belonging to the 76th Guards, Interfax Ukraine reported. A “full packet of documents, from driver’s licenses to military documentation” was discovered in one of the vehicles, he said. The Interpreter has provided a translation:

“The personnel and the vehicle were registered to army unit 74268 of the first parachute paratroopers’ regiment of the Pskov Division of the Airborne Troops. Among the items found was the personal tablet of Lt. Popov, commander of the platoon of the guard.”

Lysenko said the crew left behind the vehicle; earlier as we reported there were local press reports of a seizure of Russian BMDs.

The Russian Defense Ministry denied that the paratroopers’ BMD-2s were seized from the Airborne Troops. Igor Konashenkov, a representative of the Russian Defense Ministry, made a sarcastic statement to reporters:

“Alongside the weekly ‘exposes’ of the Russian presence on the territory of Ukraine, this is already ‘proof’ no. 1001. It is quite likely that the next ‘indisputable fact’ will be the seizure during ‘fierce battles of Kalashnikov rifles or F-1 grenades with detailed personal diaries of supposed Russian soldiers.'”



Konashenkov added that there were a number of BMD-2s left over in the Ukrainian army since the Soviet era, and questioned the authenticity of the documents.

“All the service documents that were supposedly discovered in the armored vehicle are made out in old formats (templates) which ceased to be used in the Russian Army about 5 years ago. And it’s not clear, why would such an extensive library be taken along in an armored vehicle, including even a journal of dismissal of the staff?”

Finally, the Russian radio station and Internet news site Ekho Moskvy published a report based on an interview of Ekho St. Petersburg with the deputy Lev Shlosberg. He said there is an unconfirmed report that the body of a soldier who died in battle has been returned to Pskov.

“According to information which I cannot confirm with documentation, but which has come from people whom I have become accustomed to trust, we have the first Cargo 200 [the Russian military term for bodies of those killed in action–The Interpreter] in Pskov. It has come to the spetsnaz. One of the spetsnaz soldiers died in Eastern Ukraine very recently. I cannot provide the day of death, but I know the body has already been brought back. The man was killed. The family is in mourning. This has become an event that is known in close circles in Pskov. That is, the war has come home. I don’t yet know the name of this person, but I will find out.”

Ekho St. Petersburg was unable to get a confirmation of the death from the military.