You're reading: More SBU information on Russian aggression to be released

Details of a report on Russian aggression prepared by Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, ex-chief of the Security Services of Ukraine (SBU), for the U.S. government have emerged. But more information is expected to be released.

The report is a 30-page presentation that features various examples of Russian activities aimed at undermining Ukraine’s sovereignty, from espionage to supplying military vehicles and Russian troops. Much of the information has either been previously published by the SBU or can be found in open sources. However, some information is genuinely new and, while unsourced, suggests a high degree of Russian control over separatist units and operations.

The presentation was leaked on July 2 by Bloomberg and had been expected to be presented by Nalyvaichenko during a trip to the U.S. last month. However, the trip was canceled amid his standoff with President Petro Poroshenko, and he resigned on June 18.

Nalyvaichenko’s spokesman Markian Lubkivsky confirmed the report’s authenticity to the Kyiv Post.

The report was eventually sent to the U.S. A source familiar with the report said by phone that the information published by Bloomberg was only part of a document prepared by Nalyvaichenko that is about 100 pages long. The full report is expected to be released later.

Eliot Higgins, an editor at Bellingcat – a U.K. open-source intelligence outfit – told the Kyiv Post that, while he is not prepared to judge specific claims, the information presented by the SBU fits what Bellingcat has been observing so far from open sources.

Roman Burko, an expert at Ukrainian open-source intelligence outfit Informnapalm, wrote on July 2 that he suspects the SBU report leaked by Bloomberg could have been thrown together in a hurry from sources like social networks.

The report says that five Russian generals command Russian-separatist forces in Donbas. It mentions Oleg Tsekov, commander of Russia’s Northern Fleet Coast Guard’s 200th brigade; Valery Solodchuk, commander of Russia’s 7th airborne division, and Sergei Kuzovlev, chief of staff of Russia’s 58th army. Another Russian general, Alexei Zavilion, is identified as the coordinator of Russian regular troops in Donetsk Oblast.

The report also mentions two retired Russian commanders. One of them is Roman Shadrin, a general who was formerly head of Russian peacekeeping troops in Georgia’s Russian-occupied republic of South Ossetia and is now a so-called deputy state security minister of Luhansk-based Kremlin-separatist forces. The other one is Anatoly Barankevich, a Russian colonel who was previously defense minister of South Ossetia.

Reports on five of the commanders allegedly operating in Donbas, except for Solodchuk, have already been published by Ukrainian and Russian media before.

According to the report, there are 8,960 Russian regular troops and 33,400 Kremlin-backed separatist troops in Donbas.

A large section of the report features information related to Russian special forces operatives captured in eastern Ukraine in May. The data, apparently gathered from interrogations and the content of the operatives’ smartphones, details the composition of 3rd brigade of Russia’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) special forces and its operations in Ukraine. This information was published in an earlier SBU report, along with other accounts of Russian subversive activities and espionage.

The report also contains pictures of Russian weapons supplied to Ukraine and lists Russian unmanned aerial vehicles shot down in Donbas, including Orlan-10, Forpost and Zala 421-08 drones.

While most of the images of enemy vehicles presented in the report are not unique to Russia, there is a picture of a modern Russian Kamaz army truck and an image of a destroyed BTR-82 armored personnel carrier that first appeared in September 2014. Another photo, showing a Russian Barnaul-T anti-aircraft system allegedly in Luhansk Oblast, first appeared on a Ukrainian open source investigator’s Twitter feed in March. A photo of a Russian Zoopark-1 radar, dated May 2015, originally appeared on social networks in April.

Some pictures presented in the report are dubious. A photo of artillery identified as Russian in the report was originally posted by Ukrainian journalist Roman Bochkala on Facebook last October and described as Ukrainian artillery. Among the purported Russian soldiers mentioned in the presentation is a picture of Vladimir Nevalenny, who is a local separatist from Makiivka in Donetsk Oblast, according to his page on the Vkontakte social network.

Kyiv Post staff writer Oleg Sukhov can be reached at [email protected]