Information Operations Troops
Identity
The strongest open-source match for this record is military unit 55111, assessed in recent OSINT and threat-intelligence reporting as the command element of Russia’s Information Operations Troops (VIO) within the Main Directorate of the General Staff (GRU/GU). Russia publicly acknowledged the existence of information operations troops in February 2017, but it has not publicly released a detailed official order of battle for unit 55111. ([checkfirst.network](https://checkfirst.network/unveiling-grus-information-operations-troops-with-osint-and-medals/?utm_source=openai))
Leadership
Leadership is only partly verifiable in authoritative open sources. Aleksandr Starunskiy was publicly identified in 2021 as deputy commander of unit 55111; separate open-source military databases list Lt. Gen. Pavel Konovalchik as commander, but I did not find an official Russian document in this review that publicly confirms his command of 55111. ([rbc.ru](https://www.rbc.ru/politics/17/05/2021/60a267609a794766017b95cf?utm_source=openai))
Mission
Authoritative Western reporting describes the Information Operations Troops as Russia’s military apparatus for cyber espionage, influence, and offensive cyber operations. In April 2021, OFAC said the GRU’s 72nd Main Intelligence Information Center (GRITs), which ran InfoRos, was a unit within the Information Operations Troops; Mandiant’s 2024 APT44 report further assessed Unit 74455 as highly likely subordinate to VIO/55111 and depicted Units 26165 and 74455 under that structure. ([home.treasury.gov](https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0126))
Observable footprint
Although the unit is highly opaque, personnel from 55111 have surfaced in military-academic settings. An official Bauman Military Training Center conference page listed v/ch 55111 among participating organizations in 2018, and investigative reporting noted unit 55111 appearing in Russian scientific-practical conference materials from 2018 onward, including a 2019 conference at the Cherepovets Higher Military Engineering School of Radioelectronics. ([newsite.mil.bmstu.ru](https://newsite.mil.bmstu.ru/archives/1142?utm_source=openai))
Site confidence
The organizational identity of unit 55111 is stronger than its physical siting. In the sources reviewed here, no authoritative public record gave a confirmed street address or placemark for the 55111 command element; open-source databases place it in Moscow, but that location should be treated as provisional absent official confirmation. ([nightwatch.services](https://nightwatch.services/list?utm_source=openai))