Russian Troops Traced To Ukrainian Battlefields Through Social Media

New submitter wienerschnizzel writes: Vice News has released a report on how they were able to trace a member of the regular Russian army from his base near the Ukrainian border toward the battlefields in the contested territory in eastern Ukraine, then back to his home in Siberia using the pictures he uploaded on his social media profile.

The methodology used is based on a report by the Atlantic Council think tank released earlier this year, which asserts that information on the movement and operations of the regular Russian troops can be easily gathered from publicly available sources (such as the social media). The Russian government still denies any involvement of Russian troops in the fights in Ukraine.

Comments

So?

[dunkelfalke]

Putin will still keep insisting that the soldiers are on their vacation or have been honourably discharged shortly before.

It is seriously not news, not since the photos of a disabled T72B3 have been published. Russia actively helps separatists in the region and will continue doing so in the foreseeable future.

Re:So?

[dunkelfalke]

There was no signed agreement, just a memorandum, which is neither binding nor really applicable in this case (it is about Ukraine being attacked with nuclear weapons).

The actual treaty that has been broken by the presence of Russian troops there is the Belavezha accord, which opens another can of worms entirely, but, frankly, American involvement in that matter is, indeed, very much questionable, as would be the involvement of the rest of NATO.

And as for your "as they so frequently have been" - so far a NATO country hasn't ever been under attack (except for that short skirmish between Turkey and Greece, which, incidentally, are both NATO countries). There was zero reason for NATO being involved in anything whatsoever but unfortunately Americans don't know the difference between defense and offense.

Re:So?

[dunkelfalke]

The problem with uninformed people is that they usually shout the loudest, especially chickenhawks like you.

First, Ukraine is not a part of NATO. Never has been. Second, it is very much a civil war where both sides get help from foreign powers. Except that the separatist side also gets heavy weapon support, but this is also not something that hasn't happened before. Here is a funny historical fact for you: during the American civil war, Russian Far East fleet was stationed in San Francisco and Russian Baltic fleet was staying in New York to prevent the British to help the Confederacy. Yes, Russians have helped you during your civil war. And Americans were close to helping Russians during the Crimean war.

Third, so far nobody has ever been charged for war crimes after shooting down a civilian airplane. Your people have actually received a medal for that. And Crimean annexation was probably the only understandable thing Russia has done in that conflict.

And last, don't be so cocksure about Apaches. Russians have long been prepared for them and the last time USA has been fighting in a war without any kind of air superiority is very long ago.

Volunteers?

[Anonymous Coward]

I know everyone is desperate to believe that Putin is this grand mastermind controlling the scenario, and it's certainly likely. However, it's also likely that the soldiers in question are volunteers. Now, they would have to have approved leave, of course, which questions whether or not the people approving it knew where they were going, but it's certainly possible they decided on their own volition to go and fight there, rather than being ordered to.

I could easily see a situation where a superior officer said something like "if you want to go fight in Crimea, we'll give you leave for as long as you need" and some taking that option. It's a sort of plausable deniability.

Re:Volunteers?

[halivar]

Do Russian soldiers often take their tanks on vacation with them? How stupid do you have to be to believe this?

Cuba

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm sure the US won't have a problem with Russian bases on Cuban soil. Or perhaps even Mexican soil.

What's that? It's been done? What was the US reaction? 50 years of petty isolationist aggression towards a state that didn't tow the line? Well, I'm sure that other South American countries were treated fairly, right?

What a fucking naked empire the US is. It's lost every moral position it once held. You think 300 million people are going to hold back 1 billion or more people who want it bad? Who are harder than you? Who want it more than you? Who will do it for less than you?

70 years on top is pretty good in terms of world history. OK - so you're no Great Britain, or Rome, or the Mongol Empire. But you had a good run, considering you had two seas to separate you from the wars of the twentieth century. You put a man on the moon. No one will forget that. All that history will applaud is whether you had the sanity to see the direction in which the world is moving. You can lose it the hard way like most empires do, or start adjusting like the Brits like had the sense to do.

Re:Absence of OPSEC is compensated by disinformati

[dunkelfalke]

Funny thing is, while you are completely right with what you write, these comments have indeed some truth in them.

There have been more than enough fake reports from Ukrainian government. For fuck's sake, they've once even claimed that they were attacked by Russian tactical nukes, which lead to facepalms even in their own parliament. I've been to Ukraine two months ago, their mass media really is crazy hysterical and lying. I thought that German mass media here is bad, but it is like BBC compared to Fox News.

And there are indeed neo-Nazis in Ukrainian national guard. I've seen them, too. Scary stuff. They are not a majority anymore, not since the draft has begun. But the volunteers in the beginning of the conflict were mostly the militant arm of Maidan - neo-Nazis.

It is also true that Ukraine is a failed state. Has been a failed state for 20 years.

Even so, it is not an excuse to send troops there to kill people and destabilise the situation even further.