Spetsnaz Commander - Captain
Unit: PMC Wagner, 45th Separate Guards Special Purpose Brigade
Cargo ID: #1141
Call Sign: "Priboy" (Прибой)
English Name: Alexander Yurievich Nikolaev
Russian Name: Николаев Александр Юрьевич
Date of Birth: February 28, 1973 (age: 50 years)
Place of Birth: Ussuriysk, Primorsky Territory, Russia
Education: Ryazan Guards Higher Airborne Command School (special intelligence, Graduated 1994); Novosibirsk Higher Command School (Chinese language translator, Graduated 1996)
Awards:
Hero of Russia
Order of Courage (x4)
Medal "For Courage" (x2)
Badge "Officer 1st Class"
Badge "Parachutist Instructor"
Badge "Graduation from a Higher Education Institution"
Badge "Guard"
Previously Deployed: Chechnya (x2), Georgia, Syria (as part of Wagner)
"Priboy" is one of those who, as part of the Wagner PMC, took Palmyra and performed other tasks in the Syrian Arab Republic. During the Special Military Operation, he performed tasks as part of the 45th Separate Guards Special Purpose Brigade. He and his people were one of those who held back the offensive of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kherson region in 2022, and in Zaporizhzhia in the summer of 2023. During one of the episodes, Priboy’s group destroyed up to 10 units of Ukrainian Armed Forces equipment in battle.
Alexander Yuryevich Nikolaev was born in Ussuriysk in 1973. From 1992 to 1994 he was a cadet at the Ryazan Guards Higher Airborne Command School (special intelligence), from 1994 to 1996 at the Novosibirsk Higher Military Command School (special intelligence), where he received the military rank of lieutenant, special tactical intelligence, assistant-translator (Chinese).
From 1996 to 1998 he commanded a reconnaissance group of the Special Forces, military unit 14oBrSpN.
From 1998 to 2000, Alexander Nikolaev was assistant to the head of the operational and reconnaissance department of the military unit 14oBrSpN.
From 2015 to 2023, Alexander Yuryevich went from an ordinary employee to a reconnaissance group commander, a reconnaissance platoon commander, a deputy reconnaissance company commander, he was an acting reconnaissance company commander, a deputy commander of a special measures group, a special measures group commander, an instructor, and a special measures specialist (SMT).
The Hero of the Russian Federation is buried at the Pantheon of Defenders of the Fatherland memorial cemetery in Mytishchi. The memorial is a sensitive facility and is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. The largest military memorial in Russia is intended for the burial of retired and active high-ranking employees of the Armed Forces of Russia, the USSR and citizens who have particularly important state services to the country.
