According to the investigation that shot down flight MH17 in Donbass, the transportation of the Buk was controlled by retired Russian officer Sergei Dubinsky, who appeared in the media as the DPR intelligence commander under the pseudonym Khmury

Militias at the crash site of a Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 passenger plane. 2014 (Photo: Zurab Javakhadze / TASS)

Bellingcat, an international expert journalist group that searches for data from open sources, released the report "Who is Khmury: Retired Major General Tied to the Fall of MH17" on February 15. The authors of the investigation identified a fighter of the armed forces of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) Khmury, who was responsible for transporting the Buk missile launcher. According to a Bellingcat investigation, it turned out to be a retired Russian officer, Sergei Dubinsky.

In April 2015, the JIT published telephone conversations between the separatists discussing the details of the plane crash and the transportation of the Buk missile launcher. On the recording, you can hear the voices of two supporters of the DPR - Khmury (SBU previously identified him as DPR Deputy Defense Minister Petrovsky) and Buryat. The separatists discussed the transfer of the Buk missile launcher to Khmuroy and the methods of transporting the weapon.

Investigators identified Petrovsky's real surname using Igor Strelkov's email archive, published by the hackers of the Humpty Dumpty group. They also managed to find Dubinsky's profile on the Odnoklassniki social network. In the fall of 2014, Dubinsky posted on his page photos with actor Mikhail Porechenkov, who visited Donetsk in October, and actor Ivan Okhlobystin. Later, Okhlobystin posted on his profile a photo of the watch that Khmury gave him. The photo also shows the certificate of Major General Sergei Petrovsky, signed by the Prime Minister of the DPR, Alexander Zakharchenko.

According to the ruling of the Aksai District Court of the Rostov Region, in April 2015 Dubinsky was awarded a military seniority pension. The decree states that the officer served in military units No. 61019, No. 11659 (22nd Separate Special Forces Brigade of the GRU) and No. 51019 (a separate radio center for special purposes). The last military unit is located in the city of Stepnoy Rostov Region.

Bellingcat has passed on the findings to the Joint Investigation Team (JIT), which is conducting a criminal investigation into the crash of the Boeing MH17, shot down in Donbas in July 2014. This group includes representatives from the investigative authorities of Australia, Belgium, the Netherlands, Malaysia and Ukraine.

Bellingcat experts also sent data on the activities of the 69th Separate Logistics Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces (military unit 11385) to the JIT. Investigators point out that the unit's servicemen were involved in transporting a Buk launcher to the Russian-Ukrainian border in June and July 2014. Bellingcat examined the military's social media pages and found a large number of photographs taken in the Rostov region during the transportation of the installation. The photographs show military equipment recorded by eyewitnesses.

RBC sent an official request to the Russian Ministry of Defense about the results of the Bellingcat investigation. Previously, the Defense Department had investigated a group concerning the liner crash. According to the Russian military, the group's reports are based on "pseudo-hypotheses" and falsification of data on the crash of MH17.

A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed in the skies over Donbas on July 17, 2014. Flight MH17 carried 298 people, most of whom were Dutch nationals. They all died.

In September 2016, the JIT released the first results of its investigation into the disaster. During the presentation, the head of the central department of criminal investigations of the Netherlands National Police Wilbert Paulissen and the Dutch prosecutor general Fred Westerbek said that the Buk, from which MH17 was shot down, was delivered to the territory of the DPR from Russia.

The Russian side has repeatedly denied the findings of the JIT. In September 2016, the Russian Ministry of Defense provided data from the Utes-T radar complex located in the Rostov region. According to the report of Major General Andrei Koban, chief of the radio-technical troops of the Russian Aerospace Forces, Utes-T did not record the launch of a ground-to-air missile in the territory controlled by the self-proclaimed republics.

The official Russian version is that MH17 was shot down by a Buk launcher, but from territory under the control of the Ukrainian military. As proof of this version, in 2014, the chief of the main operational directorate of the General Staff, Andrei Kartapolov, presented satellite images. On them, the military recorded the movements of the Buk launcher of the Ukrainian army. This version is also confirmed by the calculations of the manufacturer of the Buk complexes, the Almaz-Antey concern. According to the specialists of the concern, the rocket was launched in the area of \u200b\u200bthe village of Zaroshchenskoye, which, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense, was at that moment under the control of the Ukrainian army.

Bellingcat is an international journalistic expert group founded on July 15, 2014 by British journalist Eliot Higgins. The team's task is to unite citizen journalists in investigating current events. Now Bellingcat's main project is an investigation into the circumstances of the crash of the Malaysian Boeing. The team also monitors the military campaign in Syria, including the actions of Russian troops, and relies on open sources for its reports: videos and photographs posted on social media, satellite imagery. Bellingcat is funded by private donations raised through the Kickstarter crowdfunding service. The team employs more than two dozen people and a large number of volunteers who help the project free of charge.

The reliability of Bellingcat's information has sometimes been questioned by foreign media outlets. In June, the German magazine Spiegel interviewed forensic photography analyst Jens Kreise. The reason was the Bellingcat study, in which, according to the group, it was proved that the Russian Ministry of Defense had manipulated photographs of the downed MH17 plane. Kreise said Bellingcat's method did not stand up to scrutiny in terms of expertise. “Basically, it is based on the so-called ELA analysis. This method is unscientific and subjective. Accordingly, there is not a single scientific article devoted to this method, "he said (quoted by InoSMI.ru). Florian Harms, editor-in-chief of Spiegel Online, in June officially apologized to readers for the fact that the editorial staff based on information from Bellingcat gave affirmative headlines that Russia was manipulating the images. According to Kharms, news citing Bellingcat research should have been given in the subjunctive mood, since the researchers' claims were not properly verified by the editorial board.

Novaya Gazeta has found a colleague of the Russian colonel who is believed to be responsible for transporting the Buk that shot down the Boeing MH17

A veteran intelligence officer of the Afghan war recognized a colleague among those who appear on the list of those involved in the crash of the Malaysian Boeing. Exclusive certificate. The special correspondent of Novaya Gazeta Pavel Kanygin met with the veteran in Zaporozhye and went to a closed military town near Rostov with a message for his comrade.

From the editor

Novaya Gazeta continues to investigate the causes of the crash of flight MH17 Amsterdam-Kuala Lumpur, which happened in the sky in Donbas on July 17, 2014. On board the civilian liner were 298 people - 283 passengers and 15 crew members. They all died.

Last fall, the International Investigation Team ( JIT *) presented the conclusions according to which the Malaysian Boeing was hit by a surface-to-air missile from the Buk launcher, firing from the area of \u200b\u200bthe Donbass town of Snezhnoe (at that moment it was under the control of the DPR).

However, the manufacturer of Bukov, the Russian state concern Almaz-Antey, which is conducting its own investigation of the tragedy, insisted that the missile had been fired from the vicinity of the village of Zaroshchenskoye. According to representatives of Almaz-Antey, on July 17, 2014, this village was controlled by the Ukrainian security forces. Residents of Zaroshchenskoye itself denied Almaz-Antey's information and told Novaya's special correspondent Pavel Kanygin that the Ukrainian military and the Buk missile launcher had never appeared in the village, and that the surrounding area was controlled by the DPR forces from the first days of the war.

Introducing new details of the investigation.

Malaysian Airlines' Boeing crash site. Photo: Zinaida Burskaya / "Novaya Gazeta"

Investigators JIT in October 2015, they published intercepted telephone conversations between the head of the military intelligence of the DPR, Khmurym, and a separatist with the call sign Buryat; their conversation took place on the day of the tragedy. "Buryat" and "Khmury" are discussing the details of the transportation of the "Buk". In the JIT materials, "Khmury" appears as responsible for the movement of the rocket launcher from the border with Russia through the territory controlled by the separatists. The investigation, according to our information, has no other evidence of Colonel Dubinsky's involvement in the crash of the Malaysian Boeing, in addition to telephone conversations. Official Moscow calls the JIT evidence "fakes from the Internet."

However, "Novaya" managed to find a person who confirmed to us that the voice of "Khmuriy" sounded on the recording. Sergei Tiunov, the leader of the self-defense of Zaporozhye and a veteran of the fighting in Afghanistan, recognized him as his former colleague, Russian Colonel Sergei Dubinsky with the call sign Khmury.

In an exclusive interview with Novaya Gazeta, Tiunov says that he was friends with the former head of the GRU DNR Sergei Dubinsky and discussed with him the consequences of the MH17 tragedy.

Sergei Tiunov (in the background) and Sergei Dubinsky (in the foreground with a submachine gun). Photo from the archive of Sergei Tiunov

In the late 1980s, Tiunov and Dubinsky served in the reconnaissance company of the 181st regiment in Afghanistan. In the first months of the war in Donbass, thanks to his acquaintance with Dubinsky, Tiunov was able to take several dozen Ukrainian soldiers out of captivity in Donetsk. Tiunov says that he fears for the life of Dubinsky, who, according to him, is a key witness in the case of the MH17 crash and can shed light on the circumstances of the tragedy, name those who gave the order to attack the passenger liner - and is directly responsible for the death of people.

Verbatim

Telephone conversations between the head of the GRU DNR, Sergei Nikolayevich Dubinsky, with a separatist nicknamed Buryat. 07/17/2014:

Buryat: “Where should we ship this beauty, Nikolaevich? "

Dubinsky: “Which one? This one? "

B .: [The one] that I brought. I'm already in Donetsk.

D .: “That's what I'm thinking about, right? "M" which? "

B .: "Yes, yes, yes, Buk, Buk."

D .: “Is she on this, on the tractor? "

B .: "Yes ... It must be unloaded somewhere to hide it."

D .:“Is she with the crew? "

B .: "Yes, with a crew."

D .: “Don't hide it anywhere. She will now go there ... I will tell you where to move. She will go along with the Vostok tanks. "

Interception of a telephone conversation between Khmury and Buryat on 06/17/2014

Colleague

We talk with Tiunov on March 16 at the Zaporozhye self-defense headquarters, which is located in the premises of one of the city schools. The flags of Ukraine are hung in the big office, and there is a new generator. In a few days he will be taken to the Zaporozhye volunteers to the Mariupol front. In the meantime, Tiunov instructs his subordinates about the details of the trip: “Let's leave early in the morning. Do not take weapons. Clear?"

Tiunov, a robustly built man of about 50 with glasses, worked as a lawyer before the war.

Lawyer Tiunov organized and led the local self-defense in the spring of 2014, when a wave of actions of supporters of the "Russian spring" swept across the southeast of Ukraine.

Several videos have been posted on YouTube. In one of them, on March 23, 2014, Tiunov, dressed in camouflage, with his comrades blocks the way for a convoy of cars with pro-Russian activists at the entrance to Zaporozhye, and then pulls out the tricolors sticking out of their windows. “We defended our city. But Moscow channels then showed this video with the comment that we brutally attacked the Russian people. Many of my Russian comrades wrote: "Fascist, punisher, went under the junta." I did not expect this, it was a shame that the comrades were so poisoned by propaganda, '' Tiunov tells me. - And Seryoga Dubinsky didn't say anything then. The last time I visited him, near Donetsk, was in April 2014, before the war. We argued a lot, of course, he was opposed to the Maidan, he did not like it. But we communicated normally, I told him my truth, he told me his. It was hard to imagine what would happen to us later. "

Tiunov says that Dubinsky at that time was a retired Russian officer - already 10 years ago. But in May 2014, he unexpectedly went to fight for the “DPR”. Tiunov recalls that a group of Ukrainian volunteers then "harshly occupied" the village of Velikaya Novoselka, where Dubinsky lived, conducting a raid in search of sympathizers for the "Russian spring." “Seryoga was not happy with the latest events anyway, but here it is. The last straw, as they say. "

Tiunov recalls that he did not communicate with Dubinsky during his service in Afghanistan. Friendship between the former colleagues in the intelligence service began only at the end of 2010 at the newly created Internet forum for veterans. In 2011, fellow soldiers met. Dubinsky, who served as a deputy commander in the reconnaissance company, invited the Ukrainian "Afghans" Sergei Tiunov and Vladimir Vorotylov to come to his home on August 8, on his birthday, in the village of Velikaya Novoselka in the Donetsk region. Dubinsky settled here in 2004, since he left the Russian army and returned from service in Chechnya with the rank of colonel. The comrades phoned - Tiunov, who lived in Zaporozhye, said that he would come with Vorotilov in the same car and asked whether to take something from the food. "Guys, most importantly, come yourself!" - answered Dubinsky. “Karakhan *, I immediately warn you that I will not drink - while driving,” said Tiunov. “Redhead, don’t be a nuisance,” Dubinsky joked.

* "Karakhan", "Khmury", "Bad", "Petrovsky" - callsigns and nicknames of Sergei Dubinsky.

The meeting was warm. Dubinsky introduced his colleagues to his young wife and mother-in-law, showed the house. They decided to organize the feast on the veranda, recalled the old comrades in Afghanistan, first of all they drank to the departed fellow soldiers. Dubinsky recalled the story of Idris Saraliev, who fought with him in Afghanistan in the same reconnaissance group, was awarded the Order of the Red Star and the Medal For Courage. And in the Chechen war, Saraliev found himself on the side of Maskhadov's troops, and in 2002 the soldiers of the special forces unit headed by Dubinsky killed him during a special operation.

Serega was very worried about this fatal incident, he said that it happened by accident, - says Tiunov. - And if he knew, he would not allow it. He also said that we all have one country, and the enemies divided and quarreled us all in 1991. He experienced it all.

... By September 2014, several hundred Ukrainian soldiers were held captive by the “DPR”, who were surrounded in a cauldron near Ilovaisk. Few escaped from the cauldron then. The leader of the Zaporozhye volunteers, Tiunov, was able to take out a group of his people in a jeep, but was wounded. After being discharged from the hospital, Tiunov began, through his acquaintances, the Afghans, to look for an exit to the DPR commanders in order to agree on the release of one of the fighters. Soon Tiunov's mobile received an SMS with a phone number and the text: “A man from military intelligence from the other side. Call him. You will be surprised who will answer you. "

Tiunov immediately dialed the number and blurted out into the phone: "I am a lawyer from Zaporozhye Tyunov Sergey, I want to enter into negotiations on the release of a fellow countryman ..."

Speak normally, Red, ”the hoarse voice at the other end laughed. - Let's go in order: how many people, from where, who will pick them up?

- Who am I talking to? - he asked.

At Tiunov's request, Dubinsky then released the captured Ukrainian fighter, ordering him to be put on a passenger bus in Donetsk to Kurakhovo - and his relatives had already met him on the demarcation line.

A week after the successful rescue of fellow countryman Tiunov called Dubinsky again and asked to release a group of captured soldiers from Zaporozhye. “No question - take it! Otherwise, feeding them here, guarding them is just a waste, ”agreed“ Khmury ”. On the same day, Tiunov contacted the Ukrainian military and the SBU, spoke about the agreement with Donetsk and asked for logistics. The officials replied that the personal initiatives of public activists are useful, but they will be considered in the general order ... Tiunov himself rented a bus in Zaporozhye to transport prisoners. And on October morning he left for Donetsk, where Dubinsky made an appointment for him.

The trip on the one hand seemed then certain death, all my nerves were at the limit. On the other hand, I knew who I was going to, and he could not let me down, he gave his word. For Afghans, it's concrete.

At the meeting place, Tiunov was awaited by masked armed "DPR" fighters. A few minutes later, several more people appeared in the distance, among them a familiar figure of short stature with an immobile left hand - the consequences of Dubinsky's old wound, which his relatives knew about. "Khmury" was accompanied by guards. Tiunov identified them as Chechen special forces with whom "Khmury" served during the Chechen war. The prisoners were loaded onto a bus.

Tiunov and Dubinsky stepped aside to talk. “You see how life turned out, Seryozha,” said “Hmury”. - In Afghanistan, we fought on the same side, and now we are fighting against each other. I don’t understand why you are for the junta ”.

In response, I could not resist: but you shot down a passenger plane like a gangster! - recalls Tiunov. - I saw in his face how it hurt him, he took it very personally. Said, "You don't think I did this [myself]?" And then he pointed up with his finger: "The freaks from Moscow did it!"

Such a conversation was unpleasant for him, because he had to make excuses. After all, he is a military man, not a bandit, - continues Tiunov. - [It was obvious to me]: he understood that he was involved and partially responsible for the deaths of civilians. So he quickly turned off the conversation: they say, that's it, leave, otherwise they'll spot you and cover you and me with mortars.

The Zaporozhye soldiers were then released without counter demands. Officially, the DPR called the action a gesture of goodwill on the eve of the anniversary of the liberation of Zaporozhye from the Nazis ...

The next exchange took place in November 2014. Tiunov wanted to pull the volunteers of the Donbass battalion out of captivity. But the captive volunteers by that time in the "DPR" did not want to release under any conditions. By agreement, for five Donbass men, Tiunov undertook to bring two DPR fighters to Khmuriy. During the exchange between Tiunov and Dubinsky, the conversation about the Malaysian Boeing arose again.

He told me dryly then: “Seryozha, we in the“ DPR ”have nothing to do with the crash. The Boeing was shot down by a Ukrainian pilot at the SU, ”recalls Tiunov. - I immediately realized that by this time they had already developed a legend. Because ["Khmury"] no longer expressed any resentment, emotions ... We have not seen each other since then.

Tiunov shows me old photographs from their joint vacation, then talks about his service in the "Afghan" intelligence company.

He was not a bitch in the war, and he was not a rat. I know it. In intelligence, they simply do not linger. But, of course, a civilian can say differently if he looks at some things that we did in Afghanistan. Yes, something was controversial, maybe. But that was necessary for survival.

For example? - I ask.

Well, you need food, you go into the house in the village and take it, you need warm clothes - take it, cigarettes - take it. In Afghanistan, everyone did this, and in this war too. I told my fighters so too. But to take out TV sets and equipment is looting. It is a crime to kill unarmed and civilians. These are boundaries that you do not cross.

You said you didn't consider him a bandit. Who do you think then?

He fought [in Donbass] as a soldier. Yes, probably on the [criminal] command of his leadership. But I am 100% sure: if he knew that it was a civilian plane [flying] and if he had the power to launch a rocket, he would never have gone to destroy civilians. Moreover, I heard from him personally: “The Moscow *** did it!” ... And the fact that now they are making him the biggest culprit, I will never agree with that.

I ask Tiunov a direct question: will he recognize the voice of his fellow soldier Dubinsky on the records published by the JIT and the SBU? And is he ready to repeat on camera what he told me an hour earlier in a personal conversation.

Tiunov pauses. Then he says:

Let's put it this way: the person who, in the recordings [of the telephone conversations presented by] the SBU, is signed as the militant “Khmury”, is very much like Dubinsky [in his voice]. I admit that this is it.

In a conversation on camera, Tiunov carefully chooses his words. Later, he will tell me again that he does not consider Dubinsky to be guilty of the disaster: “He is a key witness, but not a killer. And he's also my colleague. I want him to stay alive. I believe that he did not press the button of this Buk, only coordinated the movement. "

The Buk, from which, according to the JIT's findings, the Malaysian Airlines plane was shot down. Eyewitness photos

When I found Tiunov, he did not immediately agree to talk about Khmur. All these two and a half years, he remained silent about his acquaintance with the person involved in the MH17 case. He says that he "did not know how to help a colleague, so as not to harm." Several times Tiunov tried to get in touch with a friend. “I would like to help him get out of this situation, but he does not even respond to my messages. Now the ring around him is shrinking. I really want to help him! "

Taras Bilko, a journalist and editor of Hromadske Television in Zaporozhye, calls Tiunov one of the leaders of public opinion among Ukrainian activists and volunteers. Nevertheless, says Bilko, only those closest to him knew about Tiunov's contacts with representatives of the “DPR”: “He tried not to advertise his participation, even when he was successfully returning prisoners from there.”

The close relationship between Tiunov and Dubinsky even before the events on the Maidan is evidenced by their active correspondence on the forum of veterans of the 181st motorized rifle regiment - a total of 43 pages. Vladimir Ruban, the negotiator for the exchange of prisoners of war, who also often met with Dubinsky, knows about the contacts between the two former colleagues during the war. However, Ruban, who is quite sociable, as a rule, refused to talk to me about him in a categorical manner: "Khmuryy" is on the Boeing. All curious people will be cleaned up. You don't need it. The conversation is over. "

During the meeting, I asked Tiunov if he himself was afraid to publicize his relationship with "Khmury". After all, his testimony is the only living, not from the Internet, confirmation of the fact that Dubinsky was supervising the movement of the Buk. Tiunov replied: "We are here with the guys, if anything, we can handle it."

On the second day of our communication, I suggested that Tiunov record a video letter, which, if possible, I will deliver to his colleague's home. (It is known that from 2004 to the summer of 2014 "Khmury" lived near Donetsk. After completing his participation in the war in southeastern Ukraine, "Khmury" moved to Rostov in 2015.) Tiunov agreed. We record a five-minute message:

Hello Nikolaich! It's too bad that I can’t establish a connection with you. The conversation is important. Probably, you yourself see everything.

<…> Nikolaitch! The person who will give you this video letter, his name is Pavel, he is a reliable man. You can talk to him the same way you talk to me. Talk to him. Maybe we'll find some common ground<…>.

With this recording I went to Rostov-on-Don to give it to Dubinsky personally. Having already arrived in the city, I called Dubinsky's mobile to make an appointment. I did not know if he would answer an unfamiliar number, and even more so I was not sure that our conversation would be protected from third parties. I dialed his number, but no one picked up the phone, there were long beeps. Once again, and again beeps. The address at which Dubinsky was registered belonged to the closed military settlement of Stepnoy in the suburbs of Rostov. The 22nd Guards Brigade of Special Forces of the Ministry of Defense of Russia is also stationed here in the village, the locals call it “the military unit of the GRU”. At the entrance to the fenced-in village there is a barrier and a booth with sentries, entrance only upon presentation of a pass.

It was not necessary to break through, thank God. An hour and a half later, Dubinsky called me back himself.

Sergey Nikolaevich, hello.

* On June 16, 2015, during a trip to the combat zone, Novaya's special correspondent Pavel Kanygin was indeed arrested by representatives of the DPR Ministry of State Security with the wording “for preparing materials unfavorable for the Donetsk Republic”. Released with the participation of the Russian authorities.

Dubinsky said he would call back in two days himself to arrange a place and exact time. But he did not call back and did not return calls.

On April 24, three weeks after our conversation, I managed to contact Dubinsky again. This time he said that my mediation in the transmission of the message was irrelevant, since he himself communicated with Tiunov the other day and he promised to send him a letter by e-mail. "Gloomy" sounded extremely disturbing. Dubinsky left the question of whether his voice sounds on the SBU records.

Tiunov denied the fact of his recent communication with Dubinsky.

Dossier: in 2015 Sergei Dubinsky was maintained by the Russian Ministry of Defense

There is a lot of information from open sources about a man named Sergei Nikolayevich Dubinsky, using the call sign "Khmuryi". Many interesting things Dubinsky willingly informs about himself, which makes him related to another notable figure of the Ukrainian war - Igor Strelkov-Girkin. He has accounts on the social networks "Vkontakte" and "Facebook", is in active correspondence with former colleagues, enters into discussions with them on military topics and even conflicts. At the forum of veterans of the 181st motorized rifle regiment, which participated in the Afghan war, the name of Sergei Dubinsky is listed among the servicemen of the reconnaissance company. The forum was founded in 2010 by another veteran named Sergei Tulupov, since that time Dubinsky has left 365 messages on the forum under the nickname "Karakhan" (his real name appears in the user's credentials).

At the forum, Dubinsky indicated that he was born on August 9, 1962, from 1985 to 1987 he served in Afghanistan, and from 2002 to 2004 served in Chechnya with the rank of colonel of the Main (Intelligence) Directorate of the Russian Army; since 2014, Dubinsky took part in the war in southeastern Ukraine and was the creator and first head of military intelligence in the "Donetsk People's Republic". In 2015, Dubinsky left his post and went to Rostov.

As it became known to Novaya Gazeta, Sergei Dubinsky, at least until mid-2015, received payments from the Russian Ministry of Defense (more than 300 thousand rubles in 2015).

In a telephone conversation, Dubinsky told me that he did not remember receiving any money from the RF Ministry of Defense. “Apart from [military] pension, I don't remember getting anything. No, no, well, there was also ... Ah! There were old disability payments, probably in 2015. Well, not because of disability, but because of the old wound. I received about 300 thousand [rubles] for disability and injury, but my pension payments come from the Ministry of Defense. "

Dubinsky almost did not communicate with journalists. It is known only about two interviews with his participation.

At the end of 2014, Anastasia Mikhailovskaya, a journalist and colleague of Igor Strelkov-Girkin, recorded an interview with Dubinsky for the newspaper Zavtra. In a conversation with me, she confirmed that Dubinsky used the pseudonym "Petrovsky" and the call sign "Khmury", and Mikhailovskaya also recognized him in the photographs from the forum of fellow soldiers that I showed her. The topic of MH17 was not touched upon in the interview, but "Khmury" spoke in detail about the military intelligence service he created in the "DPR" ("Our sabotage and reconnaissance operations are carried out daily") and about his long acquaintance with Strelkov-Girkin in Chechnya ("We worked together from 50 up to 80 operations "). According to Mikhailovskaya, Dubinsky agreed to an interview with her after the journalist organized a visit to Donetsk by actor Ivan Okhlobystin. Their joint photographs later appeared on Sergey Dubinsky's page in Odnoklassniki.

Ivan Okhlobystin (left) and Sergei Dubinsky (center) in Donetsk. Photo: Odnoklassniki

In 2003, Colonel "Khmury" was featured in a Chechen report by Izvestia's war correspondent Vadim Rechkalov. “Khmury” called himself to the journalist “sabotage specialist” Petrovsky. Rechkalov cites extensive quotes from the officer in the text. “[I am fighting] for the Russian people. For its small part, which is still preserved, ”says Colonel“ Khmury ”. “Who are you fighting with? "- the military commander asks. "With those who do not want to live in Russia according to our Russian laws, do not want to pray to our faith."

- Is it difficult for you to kill people? - asks Rechkalov.

- Very hard. It is disgusting to realize that you are depriving a person of life.

- But you got over it?

Hatred helped. He killed the first in battle during the first [Chechen] war, - replies "Khmury". “He aimed at me, but I fired first. When you kill in battle from afar, it is not really murder. Murder is when you see the face of the one you are killing.

Rechkalov died at the beginning of 2017, even earlier in the Moscow region the family dacha of the Rechkalovs burned down, where the journalist kept audio tapes and photographs. A colleague from Rechkalov's close circle, who asked not to be named (available in edition), told me that the records of that Chechen interview had also not been preserved. However, he told how, shortly before his death, Rechkalov shared with him that in Khmur, whose negotiations were published by the JIT group, he recognized the hero of his publication - Petrovsky.

“Vadim was worried about this,” recalls his colleague. - At first, he reacted with sympathy to the "Russian spring", and even when the Boeing happened, he thought that ours could not do it. Then these recordings of the negotiations appeared, and he recognized the voice [“Khmuriy], with which he met then [in Chechnya]. This fact was very painful for him. "

In the book published in March 2017 by the former head of the DPR Ministry of State Security, Andrey Pinchuk, “The Security Circuit. Generation of the DPR ”it is mentioned that Dubinsky was the deputy minister of defense of the“ DPR ”and headed the military intelligence of the self-proclaimed republic (“ GRU DPR ”).

The mention of "Khmury" -Dubinsky in Pinchuk's book caused a conflict among former colleagues. From his Facebook account, Sergei Dubinsky said that Pinchuk distorts and distorts the facts. In response to the claims of Khmury, Pinchuk wrote an article on the Politnavigator website, where he made it clear that Dubinsky's public indignation in his position was inappropriate. “But if the demonstrated trend continues, then it will be necessary to give detailed and detailed comments on the diversity of Khmuriy's activities with the corresponding conclusions and consequences,” Pinchuk wrote.

To my request to tell in more detail about the above-mentioned activities, the ex-head of the DPR Ministry of State Security replied that he was ready to talk on any topic, but did not want to talk about Dubinsky.

The fact that Dubinsky has a Facebook page was told to me by Politnavigator journalist Alexander Chalenko, who personally met him in Rostov in November 2016. The city then hosted a conference of Donbass veterans, convened by the first head of the DPR, Alexander Borodai. Chalenko took a short interview with "Khmury". The ex-wife of Igor Strelkov, Vera Girkina, who also came to the conference, also saw "Khmury". “True, he behaved very modestly, did not communicate with anyone,” Girkina told me.

Through his Facebook account, Dubinsky actively communicates with other prominent figures of the “Russian spring”. For example, with the former “people's mayor” of Gorlovka Igor Bezler, the ex-Minister of Foreign Affairs of the “DPR” Alexander Kofman and the commander of the “Kerch” battalion Vadim Pogodin. “The communication turns out to be quite open and frank, after all, people have so many memories,” says Chalenko. The Ukrainian negotiator Volodymyr Ruban also participates in the correspondence with the separatists.

According to the stories of prominent figures of the "Russian spring", "Khmury" was expelled from the "DPR" for fraud and the confiscation of property from local residents. Andrey Pinchuk also hints at this in his article. The editors cannot confirm this information, but we managed to find out that upon his return from Donetsk to Rostov in 2015, Sergei Dubinsky registered several cars in his name, including the luxury SUV Volkswagen Tiguan.

Despite the fact that we received evidence from several different sources that the voice of "Khmury" on the SBU and JIT records belongs to Colonel Sergei Dubinsky, the editors decided to conduct a phonoscopic study.

We turned to specialists from the Moscow Bureau of Independent Expertise "Version" with a request to study the recording of my telephone conversation with Dubinsky. And compare it with a sample of Khmuriy's voice recorded during interception in July 2014.

After asking in detail about the context, the Versiya bureau told me that the study could have “serious political consequences” for the organization, and asked for time to think. We understood that experts might refuse to perform phonoscopy for understandable reasons. However, a day later we were informed that the bureau would take up the work, and moreover, the research would not take much time.

A day later, the Moscow radio electronics engineer Yuri Makeev prepared a technical analysis * with conclusions that struck us. The substantive part of the expert opinion ** fit on one page; Yuri Makeev said that when studying the presented samples, "it is not possible to carry out reliable identification studies of the defendants by voice and sounding speech due to low characteristics in bit rate, total stream, bit depth and frequency."

* Technical analysis - the study of the acoustic parameters of a voice such as timbre, frequency, etc. In contrast to linguistic analysis, which strictly requires an expert to have appropriate education and qualifications, it can be carried out by a person with a technical education.

** “Expert's opinion” is a legal term from the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation, denoting a judgment on issues posed to a specialist. Unlike the expert opinion (appointed in the framework of the criminal process), it is not a fact-finding study and evidence.

However, in the next paragraph, an electronic engineer, who does not have a linguistic education, gave a linguistic assessment to the records of the negotiations between "Khmury" and "Buryat" published by the JIT (spelling and punctuation preserved. - P.K.):

"The dynamics, motor skills, abertonation, the composition and structure of the hesitation pauses, the emotional richness of the voices and sounding speech of the defendants testify to the pronunciation of memorized texts within the framework of telephone dialogues, or the reading of texts from carriers."

Further, Makeev concludes that Dubinsky's imitated voice sounds on the tape published by the SBU the day after the MH17 crash. "Study<…> indicates a significant difference in the frequency of the main tone, and overlap in aberration, style basis and manner of speech, which is most likely and taking into account the structure of the material indicates an attempt to imitate voice and sounding speech».

We learned even more unexpected things by listening to what the electronic engineer told us personally. During a meeting in his laboratory, he told a little about himself.

I myself am also from Rostov and an officer, by the way, - said Makeev. - And I went to the DPR, and carried humanitarian aid there, I also worked with the militia guys by my call sign ... Therefore, I can tell you for sure that no one is in the DPR will not even call each other by their patronymic in negotiations, as in your file! His name is Nikolayich there - it is simply impossible!

With this result, we thought this study could be completed. However, they decided to play it safe and, just in case, order another examination ...

Study No. 2

On behalf of Novaya Gazeta, I asked experts in speech analysis from the Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, University of Gothenburg to conduct a new study of two voices on behalf of Novaya Gazeta. The analysis was carried out in the Voxalys laboratory (forensic analysis commissioned by the Swedish prosecutors, police and courts) using a blind test without immersion in context and in accordance with the instructions of the International Association for Forensic Phonetics and Acoustics (IAFPA). We did not begin to acquaint experts with when, to whom and for what reason what we provide them with as materials for research. It was important for us that the experts were not subject to any influence (of the current political moment).

The study was led by a forensic analyst and member of the IAFPA Executive Committee, Jonas Lind. Swedish experts analyzed exclusively technical (acoustic) parameters: tone, frequency and timbre of voices. To assess the similarity, experts from the University of Gothenburg used a nine-point scale approved by the Swedish National Forensic Center. +4 corresponds to the highest degree of coincidence of the studied voices ("with an extremely high probability of the voices on the recordings belong to one person") -4 - the smallest (“votes with an extremely high probability belong to different people”), and the neutral indicator in 0 points indicates the impossibility of experts to calculate the likelihood of similarity / difference.

After spending 10 days on research, the Swedes prepared a forensic report, in which they said that the records represent a small amount of material, but sufficient for conclusion. So, the results of their research support the hypothesis that the compared vocal samples belong to the same person - +2 points.

This strictly technical analysis and other evidence we have collected confirm that the voice of the organizer of the transportation of the Buk complex through the territory of Donbass, Khmury (Nikolaich), belongs to the Russian officer Sergey Dubinsky.

His colleague Tiunov insists that Dubinsky had no intention of attacking the plane with civilians - but there was a mistake, an excess.

Pavel Kanygin

2017-02-16T08: 33: 00 + 03: 00

2017-02-16T10: 50: 47 + 03: 00

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This article was co-authored and written by the Bellingcat MH17 Death Investigation Team.

On July 18, 2014, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) published multiple interceptions of telephone conversations related to the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 (MH17) on 17 July. Most of these conversations, recorded on the day of the downing, took place between an officer dubbed "Khmury" and other separatist fighters in the self-proclaimed "Donetsk People's Republic". The SBU identified Khmuriy as Sergei Nikolaevich Petrovsky, a Russian GRU officer. However, for a long time neither the Western nor the Russian-language media paid close attention to his personality.

On April 1, 2015, Dutch media NRC, NOS and De Telegraaf wrote about Khmurom after the International Investigative Group (ICG) published video , in which there were interceptions of telephone conversations, and the identification of the personalities of the participants in the negotiations was cut. However, on September 18, 2014, the Russian-language Internet media PolitRussia published with a photo and video about an officer of the "DPR" named Sergei Petrovsky with the call sign "Khmury". This post was based on video dated June 27, 2014, which presents an interview with a fighter of the so-called “People's Militia of Donbass” with the call sign “Khmury”. However, the name "Khmury" is not on this video. Further in our article we will show that the person who came to Slavyansk from Moscow and gave the video interview is obviously not the same “Khmury” that is present in the intercepted phone call. On one more video titled "Sergei Nikolaevich Petrovsky (callsign Khmury, Bad Soldier)", uploaded on October 2, 2014, features a message from a masked man - according to the video title, Sergei Petrovsky. This video was uploaded even earlier, June 12, 2014 , under the name "Strelkov's Special Forces". On it, apparently, is not the same person who is giving the interview on the video from June 27, as their voices differ significantly.

Left: screenshot of the SBU video dated July 18, 2014, which shows the call sign "Khmury" and the full name "Sergey Nikolaevich Petrovsky". Center: PolitRussia publication dated September 18, 2014 with a bearded man, allegedly Sergei Petrovsky. Right: The masked man in the October 2, 2014 video titled "Sergei Nikolaevich Petrovsky (call sign Khmury, Bad Soldier)."

On November 30, 2014, the Russian news website Politikus published an interview with General Sergei Nikolaevich Petrovsky. The interview states that at that time he was the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) of the "Donetsk People's Republic", and that his military career began in the Soviet army in 1984, when he went to fight in Afghanistan. In the 90s, he took part in the wars in South Ossetia and Chechnya, where he met Igor "Strelkov" Girkin, who in 2014 was the "Minister of Defense of the DPR". In another interview published on 25 December 2014 on the Russian ultranational-patriotic news site Zavtra, he calls himself "Major General Sergei Petrovsky" and mentions that he was born in 1962 in the Donetsk region. It is unclear whether he received the rank of major general in the Russian Federation, in the self-proclaimed DPR, or both. It is also mentioned that he served in the Soviet and Russian armies for over 30 years. Earlier, an interview with "Khmurym", then a colonel, was published in 2003 on the Russian news resource "Izvestia". This interview is mentioned in a 2016 Globalized blog post. In the same post, as well as in another post (dated November 28, 2014), it is indicated that a user calling himself "Bad Soldier", with an avatar with the inscription "Gloomy", often posted on the forum of the Antikvariat site dedicated to history, military relics and other topics. Igor "Strelkov" Girkin also frequently published reports on the war in Ukraine on this forum. On this forum, "Khmury" wrote on July 19, 2014 that he was Colonel Sergei Nikolaevich Petrovsky, Deputy Minister of Defense of the "Donetsk People's Republic" for Guard Intelligence.

The real personality of "Sergei Petrovsky" (this name turned out to be a pseudonym) became known thanks to the hacking of Igor Girkin's email in May 2014. Several letters were published from Girkin's mail, including one sent on April 28, 2014 by Sergei Dubinsky from the address [email protected] The letter read: "Hello, Igor, have you forgotten the Bison yet?" This name and email address points to a page on the social network, which shows that Dubinsky was born on August 9, 1962 and lived in Donetsk, Ukraine. It should be noted that the date of birth (1962) differs from the one declared by the SBU (1964). By e-mail, you can find the forum on the website of the 181st Motorized Rifle Regiment of the 108th Motorized Rifle Division, which participated in the war in Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989. At the forum, after a list of soldiers and years of service on July 18, 2010, the guest introduces himself as "Karakhan" and Sergei Dubinsky, who served from 1985 to 1987 and lives in Donetsk. In 2011, he was registered under the nickname "Karakhan", indicating that his name was Sergei Dubinsky and that he was born on August 9, 1962, and attached his photo in the military uniform of the colonel. Soon after, another of his fellow soldiers also posted some of his photos, and in 2016 another former fellow soldier published a larger photograph of Sergei Dubinsky in uniform, captioning it “Petrovsky, Dvorkovsky, Khmury, Zubr, Bizon and our Karakhan”, as well as ““ Gloomy "in the DPR". Now these posts have been deleted. In the video on the forum and on YouTube there is one and the same photograph of Sergei Dubinsky in military uniform.

Top left: Avatar of "Khmuriy" on the "Antiques" forum; bottom left: a photograph of Sergei Dubinsky in Afghanistan from his page in My World; right: photograph of Sergei Dubinsky in the uniform of a colonel, uploaded in 2011.

The photograph of Sergei Dubinsky in uniform has apparently been edited (for example, a fragment of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland is missing). At the same time, the number of medals is quite typical for a colonel who has been leading a military career since 1984. However, most of the medals on his uniform belong to the Soviet era, for example, the Order of the Red Star, For Service to the Motherland in the Armed Forces of the USSR, the Veteran of the USSR Armed Forces medal, three medals For Impeccable Service, as well as the anniversary medal 70 years of the Armed Forces of the USSR ". The medal "Veteran of the Armed Forces of the USSR" was given only to people who had served in the Armed Forces of the USSR for at least 25 years, and medals "For impeccable service" were given to those who had served in the Armed Forces of the USSR for 10, 15 and 20 years. Thus, a person who served since 1984 could not receive these medals, since the USSR ceased to exist in 1991. Two medals on the bottom right were given to veterans of the Afghan war: the badge "Fighters-internationalists" and the medal "From the grateful Afghan people." Only two Orders of Courage at the top left appear to have been received while serving in the Russian army. The medal in the upper right is, apparently, the jubilee medal "50 Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945", which in 1993 was awarded, according to, only veterans of the 2nd World War, as well as former juvenile prisoners of concentration camps. Since Dubinsky was born in 1962, he cannot fall into these categories.

His photograph appeared in articles about the “DPR” on August 10, 2015, September 14, 2015, and November 12, 2015, but only on November 19, 2016, a link to MH17 was indicated on a site dedicated to Donetsk. These photographs of Sergei Dubinsky were published on the scandalous site "Peacemaker", which collects personal data (mainly on open sources) of Russians, separatists and alleged collaborators related to the war in Donbas. On February 7, 2017, the InformNapalm open source research team published additional information about Sergei Dubinsky, indicating his current place of residence: Russia, Rostov Region, Bolshoy Log, Molodezhnaya Street 4B.

Bellingcat managed to find another page of Sergei Nikolaevich Dubinsky. It indicates that the user was born on August 9, 1962, and lived in Donetsk (Ukraine), as well as in Rostov-on-Don. Judging by the photos on the page, in the summer of 2010, Dubinsky and his family lived in Russia, or at least visited Russia, but in the summer of 2011 they lived in Ukraine. According to the open database of the Rostov-on-Don traffic police, Sergei Nikolaevich Dubinsky, born on August 9, 1962, lived in Stepnoy on an unknown street in house number 1, apt. 117. From 1998 to 2004, 3 cars were registered in his name. Stepnoy is a military town in the Rostov region, where the 22nd separate special-purpose brigade, or military unit 11659, is based (link). This brigade belongs to the Main Intelligence Directorate - "GRU".

Photos in Dubinsky's album prove that in the fall and December 2014 he was in Donetsk (Ukraine). In a photo taken in the fall of 2014, Dubinsky is captured with Russian actor Mikhail Porechenkov, who visited Donetsk October 30, 2014 ... A photo taken in December 2014 with Dubinsky depicts Russian actor Ivan Okhlobystin, who is banned from entering Ukraine because of the support of pro-Russian separatists, and Okhlobystin's wife Oksana Arbuzova. Okhlobystin visited Donbass at the end of November 2014, and Donetsk - November 30, 2014 ... Okhlobystin met with Igor "Strelkov" Girkin and claimed that he had received a watch for Christmas from "Khmury" - Major General Sergei Nikolaevich Petrovsky.

Sergey Dubinsky with Mikhail Porechenkov in Donetsk in autumn 2014 (photo uploaded on October 15, 2016).

Sergey Dubinsky with Ivan Okhlobystin and his wife in Donetsk in December 2014 (photo uploaded October 15, 2016). Left: Ivan Okhlobystin, Right: Ivan’s wife Oksana Arbuzova.

In a photo taken in December 2014, Dubinsky is wearing the Russian uniform of a major general. It can be compared, for example, with the uniform of Major General Igor Konashenkov, Speaker of the RF Ministry of Defense. Apparently, Dubinsky has a special forces GRU patch. At the same time, the emblem of the Russian Ground Forces is clearly visible on the patch, although Dubinsky allegedly resigned in April 2014, going to serve in the “DPR”.

Apparently Dubinsky left Donetsk in early 2015; at the same time, he was allegedly banned from entering the “DPR” for extorting money from businessmen. According to the ruling of the Aksai District Court of the Rostov Region of April 17, 2015 (archive copy), funds were recovered from Dubinsky. It is also mentioned that he received a pension for serving in various military units. The first of them is military unit 61019. Apparently, this unit was formed quite a long time ago - there is no information about it on the Internet. The second of the aforementioned units is the aforementioned military unit No. 11659, the 22nd special forces brigade, and the third, military unit No. 51019, the 116th separate radio center for special purposes, also located in Stepnoye.

Photos published in the summer of 2016 show Dubinsky's new house, which was geolocate at the same address as indicated in the InformNapalm article: Rostov Region, Bolshoi Log, Molodezhnaya Street. It was not possible to confirm only the house number, since the numbers of not all houses on this street are indicated on Google and Yandex maps. However, it is likely that the house number is 4a and not 4b. The background of the photo matches Google Streetview. In another photo, Dubinsky is seen in a Canadian-made Can-Am Commander XT ATV. The new ATV of this model costs almost $ 15,000.

The new house of Sergei Dubinsky, where he (and his family) has probably lived since 2015. Photo uploaded August 8, 2016.

Sergey Dubinsky in a Can-Am Commander XT, probably in front of his house. Photo uploaded August 4, 2016.

Bellingcat draws the following conclusion: the person whose phone was tapped by the Security Service of Ukraine on July 17, 2014 (if the SBU correctly identified his voice and / or knew that the tapped phone belonged to him and, accordingly, was involved in the transportation of the Buk, which shot down in the same day MH17) - this is Sergey Nikolaevich Dubinsky with the call sign "Khmury". Dubinsky is a Russian war veteran who held the rank of colonel in July 2014, who fought in Afghanistan and Chechnya, and later served in the 22nd Special Forces Brigade of the GRU. Apparently, this is not the same person as the bearded "Khmury" in the interview, who probably used the same call sign: on July 2, 2014, Dubinsky wrote on the Antikvariat forum that he was confused with another person. However, Dubinsky could have been a masked man in a video uploaded in October 2014 titled "Sergei Nikolaevich Petrovsky (callsign Khmury, Bad Soldier), previously uploaded on 12 June 2014 under the name Strelkov's Special Forces." In the same post on the Antikvariat forum dated July 2, 2014, Dubinsky wrote that he does not appear in the media, with one exception: he reads the text on the video dated June 12, 2014.

Sergei Dubinsky was promoted to "DPR Major General" in August 2014, shortly after the downing of MH17, and subsequently returned to Russia after being expelled from Donetsk for financial crimes. Now Dubinsky lives, by Russian standards, quite luxuriously - he has a house in a quiet village, where he lives with his family and rides an expensive ATV.

Now that the identity of Dubinsky-“Khmury” is uniquely established by his posts and confirmation from his friend Ivan Okhlobystin, an additional analysis of Dubinsky's role in the transportation of Buk 332 on July 17, 2014 in eastern Ukraine can be carried out. In this analysis we will show that Dubinsky was key organizer of the transportation of Buk 332 from Donetsk to the field south of Snezhnoye on the day of the tragedy. In addition, this analysis confirms the authenticity of the intercepted telephone conversations involving Dubinsky, published by the SBU on July 18, 2014. Some of the details of these wiretaps were previously incomprehensible or questioned - for example, the mention of the downed planes and "Carnations" in the conversation between Dubinsky and Botsman. However, a more thorough analysis allows even the smallest details of these calls to be confirmed through open sources.

The following sections provide a brief description and detailed analysis of five calls published by the SBU and the International Investigative Group, involving Sergei “Khmury” Dubinsky, as well as additional comments on some details contained in a slightly more complete version of one of the calls published by the investigation.

Dubinsky in wiretapping of phone calls published by the SBU

The wiretaps released by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) contain important details of Dubinsky's role in transporting the Buk 332 on July 17, 2014. On the day after the downing, the SBU identified Khmury as "Sergey Nikolayevich Petrovsky, born in 1964, an officer of the GRU General Staff of the RF Armed Forces, Igor Girkin (" Shooter ") deputy for reconnaissance, at the time of the interception was in Donetsk. Now we know that some details of this identification are incorrect or inaccurate - for example, year of birth (1962, not 1964) and surname (Dubinsky, not “Petrovsky” - his pseudonym in “DPR”). In addition, in the description of one of the interceptions, the SBU mistakenly duplicated information from the previous conversation (see "the content of the fifth call"). In addition, the SBU published the intercepted phone number: +38 063 121 3401. The published intercepts are available on the SBU channel with comments on ukrainian and english languages. Dubinsky's voice in the video is present at the marks 1:33 - 3:52 , 4:15 - 5:22 .

Contents of the first call (09:08):

During the first call, Dubinsky talks to "Buryatik", a separatist whose identity has never been identified. “Buryatik” asks Dubinsky (“Khmuriy”) where to load the Buk-M1 missile launcher (“Buryatik” calls it “beauty”, “Buk”, “B” and “M”), which he brought from an unidentified place to Donetsk ... After asking where to unload and hide the Buk that arrived on the trawl, the Buryatik confirms to Dubinsky that the Buk arrived with a crew. Dubinsky replies to Buryatik that the installation does not need to be unloaded and hidden, because it should go “there” now.

Analysis

• The time of this call (9:08 am) is given in english version of SBU video , and in the MSG video dated March 30, 2015.
• It is not known whether the "crew" of the installation came from Russia or was a group of separatist fighters or a combined Russian-separatist crew.
• The destination point mentioned by Dubinsky is apparently a field south of Snezhnoye or another place from which this area is supposed to be covered by air defense. The use of air defense in this area would be quite logical, since the Ukrainian aviation was constantly striking in the Snizhne area. The most famous was the July 15 airstrike, which killed 12 civilians. In addition, the satellite image from July 16, 2014 shows the Su-25 aircraft (coordinates 47.857925, 38.79837).
• On video posted on March 30, 2015 International Investigation Team, there is still a few seconds of this call (for more details, see the end of this article).

Content of the second call (09:22):

In the second phone call, which starts at 2:12 in the video embedded above, Dubinsky is talking to Buryatik again. He asks if Buryatik has brought one or two Buk missiles. “Buryatik” explains that during the transfer of the installations “there was a misunderstanding, since there was no second vehicle to transport the“ Buk ”. “They” unloaded the Buk from the trawl on which it had been brought, after which the Buk crossed the “strip” (ie the border) on its own, and then was loaded onto another trawl and taken to Donetsk. Then Dubinsky tells Buryatik that the Buk will go to its destination with the tanks of the Vostok battalion.

Analysis

• Call times (9:22 am) are given in english version of SBU video.
• Dubinsky expected to be given one more car - it is not entirely clear which one. It is safe to conclude that Dubinsky helped coordinate the transfer and use of the Buk, since he had an idea of \u200b\u200bwhat exactly would be delivered, and the Buryatik knew that for instructions on where to transport or hide the Buk, one should contact Dubinsky.
• It is not entirely clear what situation "Buryatik" describes with the words "they got confused there." It is possible that he expected another transport vehicle to take another Buk, or that "they" would handle some of the transport themselves.
• It is not entirely clear who exactly is meant by "them" who brought the Buk to the border from the Russian side. “Buryatik” does not provide details, but we know that “they” were in contact with the separatists, among “them” there could have been crew members (see analysis of previous negotiations) and “they” transported the Buk to the border.
• It is not known exactly where the Buk crossed the strip, or where the trailer was parked on the Ukrainian side of the border. The most likely point of illegal crossing of the border between the settlement. Severny (Ukraine) and Donetsk (Russia) at coordinates 48.352967, 39.942758. See Bellingcat report Buk. The Assemblage Point ”and pages 11-13 of the Bellingcat report“ Russia on the Warpath ”.
• In an interview with the now defunct separatist media outlet icorpus, quoted in Anatoly El-Murid Nesmiyan's blog, Dubinsky mentions that shortly before the death of MH17, he received permission to take 3-4 tanks from the Vostok battalion: “ ... when I was walking to Stepanovka, before the Boeing crash, Khodakovsky called me, for some reason not Igor Ivanovich [Girkin-Strelkov], but me, and said: “If you need, you can take 3-4 tanks from me ".And I took it because I needed it» .
• The movement of the Buk and the tanks of the Vostok did not proceed exactly as Dubinsky had suggested. Arnold Greydanus and blogger [email protected] (see also) carefully analyzed the movement of the Vostok convoy along the same route as the Buk, but at a different time. Below are two videos of the Vostok column:

Contents of the third call (09:23):

During the third call (from 2:43 in the video above) Dubinsky speaks with another interlocutor - "Sanych". SBU introduced him as a DPR fighter, Khmuriy's deputy. In the conversation, Dubinsky informs Sanych that “My Buk-M will go with yours,” which is on the trawl. He asks "Sanych", "... where to fit her in order to put her in the column?" Sanych says that the column is being formed “behind the Motel ring”.

Analysis

• Call times (9:23 am) are given in english version of SBU video.
• Buk 332 was parked for some time at the Motel ring (as seen in this video from a passing car), and then headed east through Makeevka ( video), Zugres ( video), Torez (photo) and Snezhnoe ( video).
• Interestingly, Dubinsky calls the Buk missile launcher “mine,” which again indicates that he was the key organizer of the acquisition and transportation of the unit from Russia.
• A key piece of the intercepted conversations: they show that different separatists had different instructions. Here Dubinsky does not know where the Buk 332 should be transported in order to "put it in a column", but he knows its destination and that he must go with the Vostok tanks.

Contents of the fourth call (09:54):

Dubinsky speaks with another unidentified person, presented exclusively as a "DPR terrorist". Dubinsky tells the interlocutor to call the person with the callsign "Librarian" and indicates that the interlocutor will find "you know what" behind the Motel ring. An unidentified person confirms that he knows what is meant by “you know what”. Then Dubinsky orders him to take “... there only from those who returned, as much as you need for escort. You leave the rest here. " Further, Dubinsky says to go to the area of \u200b\u200bthe village of Pervomayskoye, which he suggests to find on the map. After arriving in the area of \u200b\u200bPervomaisky, an unidentified fighter must take a position and bring there "your own people who are left with you." Its task is to reserve and guard the Buk missile launcher. Dubinsky ends the conversation by mentioning that a man with the call sign "Gyurza" will also arrive at the position.

Analysis

• The call time (9:54 am) is given in english version of SBU video.
• No one has been able to unambiguously establish the identity of the "Librarian". Many have researched this question, but no one has given a confident answer to it. Some suggested that he was a Russian military man, possibly a spy, but no one identified a specific person. Others pointed to Fyodor Berezin, a former Soviet air defense officer whom the New Yorker referred to as "Russian Tom Clancy" for his science fiction and military books. In 2014, Berezin was the Deputy Minister of Defense of the DPR. However, it is not known whether Berezin was in Donetsk at that time. Judging by the posts in his LJ, he could be in Lugansk. At the same time, it cannot be unambiguously asserted that the "Librarian" is associated with books or is an educated person. For example, “librarian” is the name of a monster from the popular book and game universe “Metro 2033”, from where the “Sparta” battalion of Arseny “Motorola” Pavlov took its emblem. Identifying the Librarian will resolve many of the critical issues surrounding the downing of MH17.
• It is not known who exactly Dubinsky means by "those who returned", but it is possible that they are Girkin's fighters who left Slavyansk after a siege of many months less than two weeks before the downing of MH17. These people, apparently, had more combat experience than those who were in Donetsk and adjacent cities.
• The people Dubinsky is talking about are probably the people who accompanied Buk 332 from Donetsk to Snezhnoye. However, by the time they arrived at Snezhnoye, not all of their vehicles remained in the convoy. For instance, on the video filmed in Makeyevka around 11 a.m. , the installation is accompanied by a black Peugeot 3008, a UAZ-469 jeep, a gray 2010 Toyota RAV4 with a modified spoiler and a dark blue Volkswagen minibus. On video from Snizhne , filmed several hours before the downing, the Buk was accompanied by only one vehicle.
• In the vicinity of the area from which Buk 332 launched the missile that shot down MH17, there are two settlements with a name similar to Pervomayskoye. Closer to the launch site is the village of Pervomaisky, and just one field to the north of it is the village of Pervomayskoye. It is not known which of them Dubinsky is talking about, but there was a separatist checkpoint between the village of Pervomaisky and the launch site, which suggests that he meant this particular settlement.
• It is difficult to establish the identity of “Gyurza” with certainty, since this is a fairly common call sign. He was probably Dubinsky's deputy in the "DPR intelligence". In 2015, Novaya Gazeta wrote that Gyurza had previously served in the French Foreign Legion, but this statement could not be independently confirmed.

The fifth and final conversation took place at the end of the day on July 17, 2014 and took place between Dubinsky and "Boatswain", whom the SBU calls an officer of the Russian GRU. Dubinsky tells Boatswain that he is “on the Marinovka” and that he is “not doing very well”. He explains that they are constantly exposed to Grad fire and also recently shot down a Ukrainian Su-25 plane. He mentions that his forces received a Buk-M in the morning, as a result of which "it became easier." Dubinsky adds that the Ukrainian fighters are trying to withdraw from Zelenopolye, but for this they need to break through the Dubinsky fighters. He also mentions that “yesterday” (July 16) they shot down two Su-25s, and today another. At the end of the conversation, Dubinsky says that "in two hours" he is going to Donetsk, where three "Carnations" are waiting for him. He is going to transport them "here", that is, to the Marinovka area.

Analysis

• The talk time is indicated as 9:08 am, and Dubinsky, according to the description, is in Donetsk. Obviously, neither one nor the other is true. The SBU almost certainly copied the explanation for the first call, only replacing "Buryatik" with "Boatswain". Dubinsky clearly indicates in this call that he is in Marinovka. The conversation takes place after the Buk shot down the plane. The exact time of the call is unclear, but it certainly occurred late afternoon or early evening shortly after the downing of MH17, before it became widely known that a passenger liner had been shot down.

• The identity of "Boatswain" has not been established. At the same time, in a post on Glav.su for September 13, 2015, Dubinsky mentions several people with this callsign. He mentions "Boatsman", the former deputy of Bezler, another, the former deputy commander of the 3rd brigade from Horlivka, and the third, who served in the DPR Viking battalion. Of these three, the first is the most likely participant in the intercepted conversation.
• Shortly before the downing of MH17, heavy fighting did take place in the Marinovka area. On July 16, the day before the shooting down, a video appeared in which Igor "Strelkov" Girkin and Alexander Borodai are in a field northwest of Stepanovka talking about fighting in the Marinovka area. The video shows the Strela-10 anti-aircraft missile system. Separatist forces entered Marinovka on the afternoon of July 17. It was reported that they captured part of the village on July 16.

• It is possible to partially establish what kind of downed (or damaged) aircraft Dubinsky is talking about. He mentions that on the day before the call they shot down two Sushki (Su-25). On July 16, at about 13:00, two Su-25s were indeed hit, but only one of them was actually shot down. indicate that these Su-25s carried out strikes in the Saur-Mogila area, that is, just a few kilometers from the launch site of the fatal Buk missile, the village of Marinovka and the place where Strelkov was interviewed against the background of an anti-aircraft missile system. Dubinsky was wrong when he said that another Sushka was shot down on the day of the call. The only aircraft shot down that day was Malaysia Airlines' Boeing MH17.
• We managed to establish exactly which three "Carnations" Dubinsky is talking about: these are three self-propelled guns 2S1 "Carnation" without identification marks and numbers, proceeding from Lugansk to Donetsk on July 15, 2014. The convoy, which included the three Carnations, was repeatedly featured in photos and videos (see Bellingcat's respective investigation). These three "Carnations" were seen on July 15 at about 19:00 in the center of Donetsk. The Gvozdiki convoy was accompanied by the same vehicles (UAZ-469, Toyota RAV4 2010 and a dark blue Volkswagen minibus) that accompanied Buk 332 on 17 July. In the evening of the same day (judging by the mention of the shooting down of "Sushka", after the death of MH17) Dubinsky probably left Marinovka for Donetsk. The same night, three "Carnations" left Donetsk for Marinovka. Judging by the reports of witnesses, three "Carnations" drove east from Donetsk on the night of 17-18 July.

Once again I apologize, it is difficult for me to control myself now ...

Hetman's Icecoin (@YevhenS)