The lnsider, Bellingcat and Spiegel identified employees of the Russian Armed Forces unit managing missile strikes on Ukraine

Journalists from The lnsider , Bellingcat and Spiegel published a joint investigation into a secret unit within the little-known Main Computing Center (MCC) of the Armed Forces, which determines flight missions for high-precision missiles striking targets in Ukraine.

Believing that the connection of the Main Computer Center with the guidance of guided missiles is very likely, investigators write that by detailing calls comparable to the dates of attacks in Ukraine, they were able to establish names and positions. Most of them are young men and women with backgrounds in information technology and even computer game development.

Journalists write that they analyzed data from “thousands of graduates of Russian military institutes specializing in rocketry and target designation.” Some of them, after graduating from universities, entered the service at the Main Computing Center. Investigators claim that their place of work and registration is the official address of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces - Znamenka, 19.

An analysis of calls from the head of the Main Computer Center, Major General Robert Baranov, from February 24 to the end of April, as journalists write, shows that each time before the launch of cruise missiles he received a call from one specific number. According to the investigation, it belongs to Colonel Igor Bagnyuk, registered at Znamenka, 19. Journalists call Bagnyuk the direct commander of a secret missile guidance unit. A study of the metadata of the colonel's calls showed his intensive communication with other IT specialists and military engineers from the Main Computing Center.

Investigators write that the secret unit they identified consists of three teams, each of which programs the flight trajectories of one specific type of high-precision sea- and land-based missiles: ZM-14 (Caliber), 9M728 (Iskander) and X-101. According to journalists, on October 9, immediately before the missile attacks on Kyiv, Bagnyuk successively called the officers of each of the teams: captain, major, and senior lieutenant. On the same day, the colonel called his boss, General Baranov.

Bagnyuk spoke with the same people by phone on September 10 and 13, on the eve of other Russian missile attacks on a Ukrainian command post, a military base, and energy and hydraulic facilities. Investigators write that the earliest calls between him and General Baranov that they recorded date back to March 13, when Russian missiles hit a military training ground near Lvov.

Journalists also claim that Bagnyuk regularly called one of the deputy commanders of the center, Colonel Yevgeny Kapshuk, on the same dates.

The Insider contacted some of the alleged members of the Main Computer Center's missile guidance unit, each of whom categorically denied having anything to do with the attacks on Ukraine.