Relatively few non-Russian speakers know of Zakhar Prilepin, yet he is among the most popular — and talented — living Russian writers. Prilepin fought in both Chechen wars and has made frequent trips to the Donbas over the past three years to support the Russia-backed forces in the area.

In February 2017, Zakhar Prilepin gave a lengthy interview to Komsomolskaya Pravda’s Aleksandr Kots, in which he revealed that he was leading a battalion in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic. Though he himself is a Russian citizen, Prilepin said that “the majority [of the member] are locals.”

Prilepin, seen by some as “Russia’s Hemingway,” is by far the most famous combatant in the war in eastern Ukraine, and there is no shortage of materials about the man’s activities in the war zone. But what can digital forensics tell us about his battalion, where it is based, and exactly who makes up the leadership structure of this battalion — Russians, like Prilepin, or “locals,” which supposedly make up the majority of the force?

The Battalion

Prilepin is a commander of the 4th Reconnaissance and Assault Battalion of the Special Forces of the DNR Armed Forces (4 разведывательно-штурмовой батальон специального назначения вооруженных сил ДНР, or 4 РШБ СпН ВС ДНР for short), which he claims was created in July 2016. The February 2017 interview to Komsomolskaya Pravda was not the first news about his battalion and status as an officer in the DNR, as he had previously written about it.

There are a number of training videos available from the brigade, most from the winter of 2017.

Portion of a training filmed in March 2017 (source)

Location

The battalion is based in the four-star Hotel Praha in Donetsk, which has been seized by Russian/separatist forces. There are multiple methods of confirming the location, not least of which is from a document signed by a “S.A. Fomchenkov” of the 4th Reconnaissance and Assault Battalion — referring to the battalion’s leader, Sergey Fomchenkov — giving an address of Dubravnaya 101, Donetsk. This address is the same as Hotel Praha.

Tweet showing the address of Dubravnaya 101 for the 4th Reconnaissance and Assault Battalion

Public listing of Hotel Praha, before it was seized by Russian/separatist forces (source)

In a news feature on April 13, 2017, Maryana Naumova, an internationally recognized power lifter, held an event for members of Prilepin’s battalion in Donetsk. In an earlier interview in the same news broadcast, Prilepin is interviewed outside of the hotel, and later enters into it along with Naumova.