When photos of Russian tourists delight intelligence specialists. This is what happened this weekend, thanks to a snapshot from a Russian vacationer in Crimea. In swimming trunks on the beach under a big blue sky, the man poses in front of an S-400 air defense system and posts a photo of himself on VKontakte, the “Russian Facebook”.
Unintentionally, he gives valuable information to Kyiv, who now knows the precise GPS coordinates of the Russian machines, located near Yevpatoria. A gesture ironically welcomed by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense on Twitter.
“Maybe we are too harsh on Russian tourists… Sometimes they can be useful!”
Very precise geolocation
Precise geolocation was made possible by Osint, says The Huffington Post. This practice involves the use of public and unclassified data for intelligence operations. It was Benjamin Pittet, aided by Mark Krutov, who drew attention to the photograph.
The two specialists have already geolocated several Russian strategic positions thanks to photos and videos published on social networks.
If there are other similar photos of the area on the Internet, this tourist’s vacation photo has made their job much easier.
“This geolocation and these photos were quite easy to find and confirm, because these air defense systems are not hidden and are placed next to the beach,” admits Mark Krutov on Twitter. “You can see the drivers in the booths.”
“Keep up the good work!”
Geolocation is even more valuable to Kyiv as the area is still militarily active. Air defense activity in the region was reported there on August 19 and 20, Ukrainian outlet Svoboda reported.
For its part, the Russian government has asked its citizens to be more vigilant, reports The Huffington Post in its article. The Crimean peninsula has become a popular tourist destination, and many Russians enjoy it and take photos there.
It is on the encrypted social network Telegram that the governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, asks “to take fewer photos and not upload videos about the operation of our air defense system.”
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry congratulated the Russian tourist for his valuable help: “Thank you and keep up the good work!” it tweeted. To which Osint specialist Mark Krutov humorously responded: “I’m not a tourist in Crimea, but I’ll try to keep up the good work too!”
Source: BFM TV
