Thread by @trbrtc

We at @Bellingcat are often asked how one can help with #OSINT research. Well, here's a good example where geolocation and time determination is needed of 4 images, allegedly taken in Crimea. It would foster the investigative work of @houpaciosel. Context in thread below 👇

The person in the photos is Andrej Babiš Jr (35), son of Czech Prime Minister @AndrejBabis who's facing a political crisis after his son said he'd been kidnapped in Crimea to stop him giving evidence in a fraud case against his father. More context: bbc.com/news/world-eur….

The Czech PM denies that his son was kidnapped, and these 4 photos are used as a proof that his son and his companion (with hat) were voluntarily in Crimea during the Fall of 2017. Geolocation and time determination of these photos could shed a light on facts and/or fiction.

Photo 1 has been geolocated to Vorobyovy Gory (Sparrow Hills) in Moscow, Russia: 55.709491, 37.542220 (google.com/maps/@55.70954…). Thank you, @ivladdalvi, @en4rab, @thesedentaire, @zaska12345, and all others that helped!

https://twitter.com/HoupaciOsel/status/1068086355719348225

Photo 2 has been geolocated to Chersonesus preserve in Sevastopol, Crimea: 44.612319, 33.489343. Horizon matches, and it appears the rocks do too (

https://twitter.com/trbrtc/status/1068114224977756162

). Excellent find by @heytherehaIey

https://twitter.com/heytherehaIey/status/1068032067525533696

Photo 4 geolocated to the Kornilova Embankment in Sevastopol, Crimea: 44.614328, 33.521112 (yandex.ru/maps/959/sevas…). Excellent work by @zaska12345 and good initial hints by @sheeborshee, @mccarthystweets and others. Now that location is known, time determination can start 👇

Visual clues for “chronolocation” of Photo 4:
— mural paint (first grey, then white)
— advertisement (school, see thread)
— chinchillas (present some years, then not present, etc.)
— kiosks

By the way, the lady in Photo 2 has also been identified (thanks for flagging, @pavel_mxsf). Good digging by @SvobodaRadio. radiosvoboda.org/a/29626118.html

Photo 3 still needs to be geolocated. A cafe with same table + chair combo was found by @mccarthystweets (

https://twitter.com/mccarthystweets/status/1068098310521700352

, see thread), but the windows don't match. Feels we're getting closer to. The clue may be tthe reflections in the windows, as found by @echonn.

Okay, I think we have a *really* good geolocation candidate for Photo 3, found by @daniel_b_cat. Here it is, a cafe at “Площадь 300-летия Российского Флота” (300ᵗʰ Anniversary of Russian Navy Sq) in Sevastopol, Crimea: 44.613203, 33.518702. Visual matches in the tweets below.

Firstly, the font type of кафе matches (yandex.ru/maps/959/sevas…). Secondly and more importantly, the reflection in the window of four lines (3 white, 1 yellow) can also be seen in reference photos (satellite and ground) of the Square (google.com/search?q=%D0%9…).

And there's more reflections that match, like the ferry terminal “Artbukhta” as found by @jason_paladino.

https://twitter.com/jason_paladino/status/1068275649981239297

Chronolocation: It seems the place was called “Кафе бар АртБухта” (Cafe Bar Artbukhta) a few years ago, but there has been a remake and renaming to “Confectionary Hedgehogs” (Confectionary Cafe) — based on Yandex Panorama imagery somewhere in or before 2016.

So, I found the exact location where Andrej Babiš Jr was sitting with this reference photo from TripAdvisor. Place is currently called Lounge-Cafe “Лица”, but combo of tables + chairs changed somewhere between 2016 and 2018. Question is.. when exactly?
tripadvisor.ru/Restaurant_Rev…

The combination of Baltika chairs and the tables Babiš Jr's photo can be spotted on photos (mostly Instagram and Google Photos) uploaded in June-July 2017. It seems lounge-cafe “Лица” had Warsteiner in 2016 (last photo → “Eine Königin unter den Bieren”).

More chronolocation: seems those four lines on the tarmac appeared between 9 August 2017 and 9 September 2017, Google Earth historical satellite imagery shows. Thus, the photo of Babiš Jr must have been taken after 9 August 2017.

Narrowing down the time frame of Photo 3 even more thanks to this find of @Sheeborshee: stripes are not there on 18 August 2017 (primechaniya.ru/home/news/avgu…), meaning that photo must have been taken after that date.

And this blogger writes that the stripes were painted on the tarmac in early September 2017, and posts a picture dated 8 September 2017 showing the stripes. H/t @Sheeborshee. modgahead-sev.livejournal.com/174239.html

Narrowing down the timeframe even more: no stripes on 4 September 2017. So, Photo 3 must have been taken after. Thanks @Sheeborshee for finding this reference video of the area. ikstv.ru/novosti/na-mes…

Thanks so much everyone for your contributions!

@Zabka_Jan and I are currently writing up the results. We're still hoping to geolocate the following 4 photos (see below) that have been deleted from the VK page from Babiš Jr's girlfriend.

This one may have been taken in Geneva.

Here are the three other photos that would be useful if we would know the geolocation. We only have some info about the first one: it was uploaded to VK on 1 JAN 2018, 5 days before Babiš Jr wrote Czech police that he was kidnapped.

Other VK photos were already geolocated by @Zabka_Jan, e.g. these 2 taken near Geneva's “Jet d'Eau” (6.205829, 6.157553 + 46.207357, 6.156086). The sticker next to them chronolocation: When was it there, when was it not? Seems somewhere between Oct 2017 and Jul 2018.

This VK picture has also been geolocated by @Zabka_Jan. It's in front of the Kryvorizkyi Circus in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine: 47.903662, 33.401034. Poster allows chronolocation: different one until 3 Dec 2017. The show “Бульвар чудес” only ran from 16 Dec 2017 to 14 Jan 2018.

Another geolocated VK picture, again by @Zabka_Jan: the “Skazka” Zoo (Зоопарк “Сказка”) in Yalta, Crimea: 44.494549, 34.117881. Reference photos found via Google (google.com/maps/@44.49472…) and TripAdvisor (tripadvisor.cz/Attraction_Rev…), see e.g. fence, wall, and orange giraffe statues.

Also, shoutout to @NEOVLIVNICZ for the archived photos of the VK page.

Giraffes, chinchillas, and a geolocation extravaganza.. Here's a write-up of the above thread (and some new findings by the Twitter hive mind). Many thanks to all of you who contributed! bellingcat.com/news/2019/02/0…

After the publication of the article, @Bellingcat readers and eagle-eyed Twitter-users reached out. And guess what, all 12 out of 12 photos of interest in the alleged father-son kidnapping mystery have now been geolocated! Read the article here 👉 bellingcat.com/news/2019/02/0…

This photo of Babiš Jr. and Jelizaveta was specifically difficult to geolocate. Photos taken inside are usually hard. But a @Bellingcat-reader managed to do it nonetheless. Here's how. 👇

Two monitors are visible to the right of Babiš Jr. One is vertical, the other one is horizontal. @Bellingcat-reader “Alex” identified the image on the vertical monitor. It's the film poster for @theblackpanther, an American superhero film that was released in January 2018.

That gave Alex a hunch that this may be a cinema.

Do you see that air hockey table on the right? That was one of his visual clues to look for cinema reference photos. Since several photos were geolocated to Russian-annexed Crimea, why not start there?

It was “Bingo!” in Yalta.

Alex's geolocation showed that Babiš Jr. was in the Saturn IMAX in Yalta. But when? Well, by looking for geotagged social media posts, we can discover reference photos that show this specific Halloween decor between late October 2017 and early November 2017.

Oh, by the way, I must say that Alex's hunch was not just random. Look at the white text at the bottom of the Black Panther poster. That certainly looks more like the Russian version (в кино с 16 февраля) than the Ukrainian version (скоро в кіно). So, hence the start in Crimea.

Oh, by the way. How did Alex identify the “Black Panther” poster in the first place? Guess what.. a good ol' reverse image search.