(1-23) Who ever visited Ukraine is familiar with Salo as a typical Ukrainian pigmeat dish. In this series S.A.L.O. stands for Stories About Lawless Operations done by the Putinregime. S.A.L.O. is an antidote to Russian imperialism and even suitable for vegetarians.
(2-23) In this first mini series we will focus on the operation Russias has run on European soil the last 30 years. In this episode we’ll zoom in on how Putin undermines and terrorizes European defense organisations and infrastructure.
(3-23) The Georgian war in 2008 made Putin realize how subversive tactics could enhance his imperialistic ambitions. Russia gradually invested more in its army, militairy intelligence played a key role: UNIT 29155 was founded.
(4-23) 3. Georgia had suffered huge ammo losses and was quickly rearming via Bulgarian gunrunners. A thorn in the Kremlins eye as it warned Bulgaria to immediately quit any deliveries.
(5-23) 4. In 2011 UNIT29155 was send to Bulgaria to sabotage weaponsfactories and armsdepots. In the span of 4 years ammodepots in Lovnidol, Stralzha-Marash were blown up while armsfactories in Gorni Lom and Iganovo suffered explosions.
(6-23) The Putinregime took it one step further poisoning Emilian Grebev with novishock, the same nerveagent later used on Skripal. Putins wrath as Grebevs company EMKO was responsible for Georgian deliveries.
(7-23) Meanwhile in the Czech Republic UNIT29155 blew up yet another depot. The motive? It had been used by the EMKO company. The incident put a severe strain on Czech-Russian relations.
(8-23) To learn Bulgaria a lesson in 2020 & 2023 UNIT 29155 was send back, new explosions at depots and armsfactories occured. Undeterred Bulgaria keeps on supporting Ukraine with weapons.
(9-23). Sweden experienced another ploy of Putins intimidation tactics in 2013. Russian fighter jets and bombers came very close to Swedish airspace and trained on bombing Swedish targets. In 2016 a NATO investigation concluded it was a training in nuclear bombing.
(10-23) Like Bulgaria another loyal supplier of weapons to Ukraine is Albania. The small country encountered a group of spies in an armsfactory in 2022. The intruders
(two Russians and a Ukrainian) tried to flee and even used paralyzing spray towards a guard.
(11-23) The group explained themselves as ‘urban explorers’ just looking for a nice old soviet building. Albania didn’t budge and prosecuted the group, labelling them Kremlin spies.
(12-23) A more effective way for Russia to infiltrate NATO arms factories was to just recruit a spy there directly. A Dutch arms-director got turned and helped the Russians circumvent sanctions selling by aircraftparts.
(13-23) Continuing the spy game in 2021 an Italian Naval Officer got caught selling classified documents to the Russian embassy. He paid a heavy price with a 20 year prison sentence.
(14-23) Russia even managed to infiltrate the German foreign intelligence service BND. Two officers were compromised selling security secrets via a Russian businessman to the FSB.
(15-23) Since Poland became a transferhub for supplies to the West of Ukraine Putins forces forces eyed sabotage aswell. Crucial railwayjunctions and transportroutes were monitored by secretly placed camera’s.
(16-23) In 2021 Norway observed a new chapter in Putins games, underwater sabotage. Critical cables to sensors that monitor enemy activity were cut. Norway soon concluded it had been a deliberate move.
(17-23) 15. Russia wasn’t done yet, January 2022 a critical fiberoptic cable was cut. It connected mainland Norway with the archipelago of Svalbard; providing internet and communication services.
(18-23) In February 2022 Irish fishermen noticed a Russian ‘research’ ship close to Irish territorial waters. As the ship was about to disturb the seafloor, the vessels went into a true David versus Goliath style confrontation.
While the trawlers won the fight a question kept popping up. Why were the Russians so keen on that exact spot? It just happened to be the area were important international datacables met, something fishy was going on.
(19-23) In may 2023 NATO intelligence came with an alarming message. Russia was actively mapping undersea pipelines and data-cables which off course indicated future sabotage attempts.....
(20-23) Datacables did get damaged in the Baltic Sea, in october 2023 both Swedish-Estonian and Finnish-Estonian Telecomlines were cut. Purposefully, Swedish investigations concluded.
(21-23) The Baltikconnector, an undersea gaspipe was also hit in the same attack. Blocking gas transfers from Finland to not only Estonia but consequently also Latvia, making gas prices surge which off course benefited Russia.
(22-23) 20. While Russia happily wears the cloak of victimhood considering ‘threatening’ NATO countries it has consistently acted as an aggressor on European soil.
(23-23) In the past I had small contributions to some vatniksoups. I am not as witty or knowledgable as @P_Kallioniemi (go follow him!) but I felt like I had to get this story out. Slava Ukraina!
@threadreaderapp unroll
Share this Scrolly Tale with your friends.
A Scrolly Tale is a new way to read Twitter threads with a more visually immersive experience.
Discover more beautiful Scrolly Tales like this.