Thread by @codyave

"Are these videos secret messages from spies?"

by Jonas Mueller-Towe (November 12, 2019)

#anschlag archive.ph/TO02D

"For years, Russian spies in Germany have contacted the headquarters in Moscow via YouTube. Shortly after their release, new videos surfaced. t-online[.]de followed the trail."

"Is it a side joke? An accident? Targeted disinformation? Or did Russian spies try to transmit encrypted messages shortly after their release from prison in Germany? During research, t-online[.]de came across videos that pose puzzles."

"The parallels and the temporal connection to a sensational case of espionage are striking. According to information from t-online[.]de, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution is aware of the material, but has not yet come to a final assessment."

"The story begins in October 2011. At that time, an elderly couple was arrested in Marburg, Hesse. 'Andreas Anschlag' and 'Heidrun Anschlag' have been living there with false passports for decades. Even their daughter was born in Germany."

"Behind the bourgeois facade is an operation of the Russian foreign intelligence service SWR. Their goal: skimming off secret information from NATO and the EU . Police access forestalls their escape. Your service has already warned you that your exposure is imminent."

"All of this emerges from the later judgment of the Stuttgart Higher Regional Court, which fell in 2013 and resulted in several years of imprisonment for the 'Anschlag' couple. They remain silent about their identity during the trial. They only admit to being Russian citizens."

"They refrain from returning any evidence they have seized – but the state-of-the-art espionage equipment belongs to their commanding intelligence service anyway."

"'Pit' and 'Tina', their aliases, had previously spent their years in Germany engaged in professional espionage. Among other things, they recruited a Dutch diplomat as a source and sent secret documents and information to Moscow."

"And for this – which brings us full circle with the videos now discovered by t-online[.]de – they also used a means of communication that until then had played a role that had received little attention in the public perception of espionage work."

"Because under the alias 'Alpenkuh1' the "'Anschlag' couple operated on the video platform YouTube and communicated there via codes with their command officers in Moscow."

"In public comments under popular videos, they hid messages - for example, that a document was now hidden in a certain 'dead mailbox' that could be picked up."

"And so messages from the spies in Germany to their contact persons in Russia could be read under fan clips of footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, under a song by singer Brandon Flowers, under a video about an alleged UFO sighting."

"Its true meaning can only be unlocked with certain keys. The secret service center called the procedure: Line D1."

("He [Cristiano Ronaldo] runs and plays like a devil": The spies' coded messages were nondescript.)

"The arrest in 2011 put an end to the operation for the time being. However, the videos now discovered by t-online[.]de raise the question of whether communication via YouTube finally ended."

"Because almost three years later, in mid-November 2014, 'Heidrun Anschlag' was released early from prison. The news magazine 'Spiegel' reported, citing security circles, that the agent had probably been bought out by the Russian government. She was then expelled."

"And just under six weeks later – on January 1, 2015 – the videos, which can still be viewed today, were uploaded to YouTube."

"The name of the anonymous user was obviously based on the account the spies originally used: Instead of 'Alpenkuh1', the account is called 'Alpenkuh1 CT'. Both videos are tagged with cryptic strings of letters and numbers: 'GC4.5.4.K.3' and 'XycBLF6kWuY.'"

"The recordings, which appear inconspicuous at first glance, are entitled 'Parade – message 1' and 'Alpenkuh1 message 2'. In short one-cut sequences, they show a vehicle following a tractor on a dirt road and a group of Turkish youths marching on drums."

"Both videos were apparently made in Turkey – and very likely before the release of 'Heidrun Anschlag'. Because parades like the one in the first video take place in Turkey on April 23, May 19, August 30 or October 29, i.e. before the prisoner is released."

"A recognizable vehicle number plate gives an indication of the date and place of the recording: The car comes from the city of Samsun in northern Turkey."

"Celebrations are held there for the national holiday on May 19th. The video may have been made there for such an occasion. The drum group probably hails from the city of Of in Trabzon province."

"Because on the right-hand side of the road you can see a sign in the picture that says 'Satilik' - Turkish for 'for sale'"

"The audio track apparently contains a recording from the program of the Turkish radio station TRT Radyo Haber, which is running at the same time in the vehicle from which the film is being filmed."

"A reference to the date of the recording is also included here: The radio reports on the outcome of Karabukspor against the Danish football club Rosenborg. The game ended 0-0 on July 31, 2014 – also a few months before 'Heidrun' was released from prison."

"Are the videos still related to the case? Did 'Heidrun' want to give clues to their whereabouts with the uploads of possibly strange, older videos? Contact your husband in prison, your officers in charge? Or are they, on the contrary, messages to the spy?"

"At the request of t-online[.]de, the intelligence agency in Hesse, which is responsible for counter-espionage, did not want to comment on the videos 'for reasons of principle'. The Federal Intelligence Service also did not comment on the videos at the request of t-online[.]de."

"From circles of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, it is said that it would be atypical to continue using a communication line that has been exposed. However, this is not a conclusive evaluation of the material."

"Finally, in addition to YouTube, the 'attackers' also used certain shortwave frequencies to communicate with Moscow and decrypted the cryptic messages from headquarters with their technical equipment. A method used by many intelligence services around the world."

"Or are the videos and the codes themselves just a kind of signpost? Because if you add the specified series of letters 'XycBLF6kWuY' to a YouTube address, you will come across a video by the rock band 'Pixies'"

"Whoever was behind the 'Alpenkuh1 CT' account: The unknown added a single video to his favorites list in addition to the uploads. It explains conspiracy theories in English. 'CT' is a common abbreviation for 'Conspiracy Theory'. So is it all just a joke?"

Well, one "attentive reader" of t-online[.]de seemed to think that it was neither, as the author of the article provided two updates:

"Update 1: Presumably the answers do not actually lead to the Russian secret service. After the article was published, a reader indicated that the code 'GC4.5.4.K.3' referred to a so-called geocache in Poland, i.e. it was a clue in a kind of treasure hunt."

"Update2 : The geocaching game that the attentive t-online[.]de reader pointed out bears the title: 'CT15: The Spying Game' – German: 'The Espionage Game'"

What do you think? Was this merely a case of a copycat youtube account created just for yucks by an innocent Polish geo-caching prankster?

Me, I'm gonna say.....no.

I believe author @JMuellerToewe was right on the money the first time.

His article doesn't mention it -- though it should, imho -- but these two Russian spies weren't captured solely through the efforts of German intelligence alone.

The Germans were allegedly tipped off by.....Poteyev. spiegel.de/politik/auslan…

If you've followed my account for any length of time, you might know that I am possibly unreasonably fascinated by the inexplicably mysterious persona that is former Deputy Head of Directorate "S" of the Russian SVR, Colonel Alexander Nikolaevich Poteyev.

Long story short, Poteyev is the guy that in June 2010 had ratted out around a dozen or so Russian Illegals that had been operating in the U.S. under fake names, some of them for decades.

Anna, anyone?

A dark horse theory that I've had for quite some time is Poteyev's potential involvement in Spygate, centered chiefly around the events pertaining to "Male-1" (Carter Page) of the FBI's 2015 case against Evgeny Buryakov. justice.gov/sites/default/…

Recall these fun notes?

But...the Anschlang's.

How could Spygate possibly be connected to them?

Hypothesis: Soccer scores.

("Football", if you're across the pond.)

During an interview on March 30, 2017, Carter Page shared with FBI agents -- one of them, likely Stephen M. Somma -- a PowerPoint slide that featured a recap of the July 6, 2016, UEFA EURO match between Portugal and Wales.

(Spot anyone familiar?)

documentcloud.org/documents/2112…

In his November 17, 2017 testimony to HPSCI, Carter Page was asked by Rep. Schiff about his early July 2016 trip to Moscow, including his time with Andrey Baranov. Carter said that the two of them were at a packed bar watching the Portugal - Wales match. intelligence.house.gov/uploadedfiles/…

On June 10, 2018, Carter Page recounted to ABC News Australia the same story: "It was a packed bar in Moscow. Portugal I think was playing Wales that day, and everyone's focused on Ronaldo's goal, right? And so that was sort of the topic of conversation."

Fun fact: Cristiano Ronaldo's goal against Wales came just before half-time. ⚽️ theguardian.com/football/live/…

According to twitter, the end of the Portugal - Wales match would've ended just before 1 AM Moscow time on July 7, 2016.

And that's when something very, very odd occurred.

Just a few hours later, Kommersant news published an article concerning unconfirmed rumors that Poteyev had died in the U.S.

(A few other media outlets picked up on the rumors as well, but no one seemed to really believe them.)

Did you believe the rumors? Was Colonel Poteyev, the mythic turncoat spy, really dead?

Truth be told, no one could say.

The rumors about Poteyev's unconfirmed death seemed to have faded with time.

That is, until the New York Times picked up on it in September 2018.

Though, funny thing, the NYT didn't specifically name Poteyev in their story.

But we'll get to that in a second.

First, let's fast-forward two weeks to...

archive.ph/xYg2J

...the BBC.

On October 2, 2018, BBC's Mark Urban revealed that while researching his book on Skripal, he discovered that not only was Poteyev alive, but also "there had been an elaborate Russian intelligence operation designed to track down the whereabouts of Poteyev"

Fun fact: Mark Urban graduated from the same Royal Tank Regiment as Pablo Miller. (Yes, that Pablo Miller.)

But going back to the Times' story from September 2018.

(I've abridged it here to just five paragraphs for clarity.)

The Russian defector -- confirmed to be Poteyev by Mark Urban -- had allegedly been targeted by a suspected Russian hitman at his Sunny Isles (Florida) residence around "late 2013 or early 2014."

Does this seem odd to you?

"late 2013 or early 2014" could be a span of many months.

But the "officials" in the NYT's story say they "watched as he [the suspected Russian hitman] visited the home of the informant [Poteyev]."

That visit can only be one specific day.

It cannot be a vague months-long span.

And Poteyev didn't live just anywhere.

He lived in a Trump-licensed condominium in Sunny Isles Beach, Florida.

However, it wasn't me who discovered that..

It was revealed by a Resistance™️ account.

(User has since rebranded under a different name)

Take a look at the date of the "discovery": June 2017.

Who goes looking for info on Poteyev in June 2017?

He hadn't been talked about for the better part of a year.

Why go look for him?

Zooming in on the bottom right of the above image: What does that look like to you?

Do you recognize the name "Tchenguiz"?

How does this user know that Tchenguiz's social circle is connected to Anna Chapman?

Anna hasn't been in the US for years.

Also: "catfished"?

Hmm...

Anyways, moving on.

As you'll recall, the BBC's Mark Urban published a video on Poteyev on October 2, 2018.

But, it wasn't until the following day that *another* story on Poteyev went live.

This time, BuzzFeed.

And, apparently, they had been holding onto this one for some time...

(Like the NYT article, this one has been abridged to its most salient points.)

archive.ph/TBJLC

Anything about Poteyev's behavior strike you as odd?

BuzzFeed authors sure seem to have been confused.

Republican party registration on August 22, 2016.

Wal-Mart fishing license on October 9, 2016.

It's almost like Poteyev wanted to get spotted, right?

...but spotted by who?

This is probably where I'll start to end the thread, as...there's just not enough data points to jump to anything even half-conclusive.

Remember Tchenguiz, the guy whose social circle supposedly overlapped with Anna Chapman?

Well, he was named for the first time -- at least, in the Trump-Russia sense of the word -- on August 22, 2016.

Same day that Poteyev registered to vote GOP.

And just look at who the author namedrops alongside Tchenguiz: Firtash, Manafort, Cambridge Analytica, SCL, the Mercers, Icelandic Bank Kaupthing...

These are all Fusion GPS areas of "research", and I bet they all were supposed to "point" to Alfa Bank...

It's well-documented that Poteyev is considered to be a high-value target of the SVR.

Say...do you know of anyone associated with the Trump campaign who has been accused of being a suspected agent of the SVR, possibly by, oh, I dunno, one or two of the co-founders of Fusion GPS?

If you can find any open source information on this hypothetical question of mine, please let me know in the comments.

Every little bit helps, folks!

Anyways, I've long held the theory that the ten Russian Illegals busted in NYC in June 2010 weren't the only ones Poteyev knew about.

Could be that Poteyev -- and whoever his US IC handlers are -- have been keeping the names of other Russian Illegals close to the vest, waiting until the time is just right to strike.

The 2011 German intelligence case against the Anschlag's -- which I just learned about today, for some stupid reason -- doesn't confirm this suspicion, but maybe it does drag it a little closer to the finish line.

Poteyev has two kids who have been living in the U.S. for over a decade.

IIRC, both are college educated, and I think the son had an export job in the Russian govt.

Probably shouldn't be counted out as having possible connections to people associated with the Trump campaign.