708th Information Countermeasures Center GRU
Identity
Reviewed open sources identify military unit 76836 as the 706 Center for Information Countermeasures of the Western Military District in St. Petersburg. In the materials reviewed, this unit appears as 706 rather than 708, so the user-supplied 708th designation is not independently confirmed. ([rupep.org](https://rupep.org/ru/company/70302))
Address
RUPEP lists unit 76836 at 35 Obvodny Canal Embankment, St. Petersburg, with the profile updated on October 30, 2024. Public city directories also place the 11th and 26th Military Automobile Inspections at the same address, which suggests a shared military administrative address; the exact operational footprint of unit 76836 there is not publicly confirmed in the reviewed sources. ([rupep.org](https://rupep.org/ru/company/70302))
Site ambiguity
Location reporting is not fully settled. A CNA appendix on Russian information-confrontation forces placed a Western Military District center for foreign military information and communication in Sertolovo near St. Petersburg, while later registry data place unit 76836 on Obvodny Canal in central St. Petersburg. Because the CNA source does not explicitly name unit 76836, these should be treated as related but not definitively identical site references. ([cna.org](https://www.cna.org/reports/2021/06/The-Role-of-Russia%27s-Military-in-Information-Confrontation.pdf))
Mission
Russian official sources reviewed do not publicly spell out this unit's mission. External reporting nonetheless consistently describes unit 76836 / 706 Center as part of Russia's military information-confrontation apparatus and alleges involvement in anti-Ukraine information operations; a CNA study on Russian military information confrontation cites that reporting but does not independently verify the specific operational claims. ([uc.od.ua](https://uc.od.ua/columns/1533/1231160?utm_source=openai))
Personnel
At minimum, the unit remained active and organized into departments as of March 8, 2023, when RIA's official photo archive identified Tatyana Chubchenko as head of a department of unit 76836, Western Military District, receiving a state award. Separate 2020 Ukrainian reporting named Col. Valeriy Kiyen as commander and Col. Vasiliy Bychkov as deputy, but no later authoritative confirmation of the current command team was found in the reviewed sources. ([riamediabank.ru](https://riamediabank.ru/story/list_298897372/))
Command context
Any present-day district subordination is unclear in open sources. Russia recreated the Leningrad Military District by presidential decree in February 2024, and TASS later reported that the Western Military District ceased activity because of that reorganization on June 5, 2024. For a St. Petersburg-based unit, the provided hierarchy path through the Moscow Military District is therefore not independently verified and may be outdated. ([tass.ru](https://tass.ru/armiya-i-opk/20765133?utm_source=openai))