AirPods stolen in Bucha — Thief found in Russia

The Ukrainian OSINT project team Molfar has managed to identify a Russian soldier who burgled the home of a Bucha resident and took AirPods earphones, among other things. Russian servicemen have been caught doing such things many times, but this time, Molfar could identify the thief, his place of service, and a lot of other information. The team shares the details of this case.


During the occupation of the city of Bucha by the Russian army, the Apple AirPods earphones were stolen from the house of a person who we talked to. Since the city was under occupation, the only suspects were Russian soldiers. The Apple ecosystem can track the geolocation of devices, so the movements of the Russian soldier became known.

According to the geolocation of the device, after leaving Bucha, he went to the city of Valuiki (Belgorod region, Russia).

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According to the specified geolocation, he was on the southern outskirts of the city near the forest (coordinates 50.160366588070495, 38.090183795233074).

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Later the relocation to the city of Gelendzhik (Krasnodar krai), where he was on July 27, 2022, was recorded.

According to the specified location, the thief was at Griboiedova Str. 18, Krasnodar krai (coordinates: 44.553423708216506, 38.07338144236287). At this address in Gelendzhik, there is an IDEA store and a children’s development school, Intellect (Интеллект).

On January 28, 2023, the approximate location of the earphones was in the city of Kemerovo at Verkhotomskaia Str. 64.

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Here is the satellite image of the mentioned house on the location of the earphones in Kemerovo (coordinates: 55.39042847888098, 86.03672898222739):

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The house at the address Kemerovo, Verkhotomskaya Str. 64. The photo from Google Street View. According to the photo in VK dated March 24, 2021, a new building was built in the place of the mentioned house.

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Soldier Thief Identification

The photos showing the geolocation near houses 62 and 64 on Verkhotomskaya street, where the earphones were tracked, were found via the Russian social media VKontakte (VK). We assume that Apple gave an approximate number of the house on the location, and the address of the AirPods is 62. The photos (123) were posted on VK by Tatiana Nureyeva VKOK1OK2).

Tatiana’s son, Roman Evgenyevich Nureyev (DOB: November 18, 1994, [email protected], passport: 3214490927, VKOK1OK2), is a serviceman, confirmed by leaked Russian databases and photos on Roman’s page (123). He served in the 27th detachment of Kuzbass (military unit 6607) — Rosgvardia. According to the information, the Kemerovo fighters of the Rosgvardia are among those involved in the atrocities committed by the Russian soldiers in Bucha during the city occupation (February 27, 2022- March 31, 2022).

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Roman Nureyev is registered at Verkhotomskaya Street 62. His house is located next to the one, the geolocation of which is indicated by the Apple service as the location of the stolen earphones.

Roman’s wife is Katerina Nureyeva ((VK). They have a son.

It’s a house at Verkhotomskaya Street 62, Kemerovo, Russia. Photo: Google Street View.

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This photo is taken from Roman Nureyev’s page. Here his father and son are next to a house, the siding of which is similar to house No. 62 on Verkhotomskaya Steet, according to Google Street View. It is the only building with such a cladding in this location.

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He served as a rifleman and corpsman during his service with the 27th detachment of Kuzbass (military unit 6607).

On September 29, 2012, he published a photo of the car with Ukrainian plates, captioned it “a dream.”

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And this is “The letter to a soldier,” published on his page.

On his own VK page, he shared a video published by the page ДОНЕЦК ДНР НОВОСТИ ДОНБАСС РОССИЯ НОВОРОССИЯ СВО on July 02, 2022, called “Kemerovo Russian guardsmen thanked all concerned citizens of our country for their support.”

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Roman now has AirPods. To get them, he took part in a full-scale invasion, participated in looting, and violated the laws of war.

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