unit no. 12128 21 Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade Military Unit 12128 — 2nd Army · TsVO

Commanders

Демидов Роман Юрьевич

Гвардии полковник, командир 21-й отдельной гвардейской мотострелковой бригады

Панов Сергей Александрович

Майор, командир танкового батальона — в/ч 12128 — 21-я отдельная мотострелковая бригада 2-й общевойсковой армии Центрального ВО ВС РФ

Трифонов Андрей Сергеевич

Полковник, командир 21-й отдельной мотострелковой бригады — в/ч 12128 — 21-я отдельная мотострелковая бригада 2-й общевойсковой армии Центрального ВО ВС РФ

Personnel identified

3

Confirmed losses

2

Involvement in crimes / areas of activity

The 21st Separate Guards Omsk-Novobugskaya Motorized Rifle Brigade (Military Unit 12128) was formed on June 1, 2009, by the reorganization of the 27th Guards Motorized Rifle Division, and is part of the 2nd Guards Combined Arms Army of the Central Military District. Specific episodes in the war against Ukraine are documented: in July 2023, the brigade dislodged Ukrainian forces from heights near the Zherebets River in Luhansk Oblast; in late July 2023, it repelled Ukrainian Armed Forces attacks on Karmazynivka in the Svatove direction; and from October 2023, it conducted an offensive in the direction of Kamianka during the battles for Avdiivka. Two servicemen of the brigade were awarded the title Hero of Russia, including posthumously — Major Sergei Panov, commander of a reconnaissance battalion. A repeated search clarified the circumstances: on March 4, 2022, a reconnaissance group commanded by Major Panov entered the city of Konotop in Sumy Oblast and fell into a Ukrainian Armed Forces ambush; covering the retreat of his subordinates in an infantry fighting vehicle, Panov died — by decree of the President of the Russian Federation in April 2022, he was posthumously awarded the title Hero of Russia. The brigade's second Hero of Russia is Guards Major Alexander Anatolyevich Vasilyev (call sign 'Angara'), chief of staff – deputy commander of a motorized rifle battalion: on October 21, 2023, in the Avdiivka direction, he led an assault group to capture approaches to the city, ensuring the advance of units, and died in this battle; the title Hero of Russia was awarded to him posthumously by decree of the President of the Russian Federation on September 11, 2024, and the 'Gold Star' medal was presented to his daughter at a ceremony on October 16, 2024, in Irkutsk Oblast. In addition, Guards Senior Lieutenant (later Captain) Stepan Belov, then commander of a tank company of the 21st Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade, was awarded the title Hero of Russia by a 'closed' decree of the President of the Russian Federation on December 9, 2022 — for his company, according to official data, destroying 20 tanks and 9 infantry fighting vehicles of the Ukrainian Armed Forces; unlike Panov and Vasilyev, Belov did not die and, as of 2023, continued his service in the brigade as chief of staff of a tank battalion.