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Eliot Higgins

12 Jun, 9 tweets, 3 min read

The Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD) specifically names Bonanza Media in its 2020 annual report as one of the platforms used by the GRU to disseminate disinformation about the MH17 investigation
aivd.nl/onderwerpen/ja…

Last November we wrote about how Bonanza Media founder, former Russia Today journalist Yana Yerlashova, was in frequent contact with a GRU officer by phone and email bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-eu…

Bonanza Media became a focal point for the efforts of Dutch MH17 truthers travelling to Eastern Ukraine to interview witnesses who supported their denials of Russia's involvement in Ukraine and publishing documents from the JIT.

They even managed to secure an interview with former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad who himself is quite the MH17 truther, and who now seemingly was a partipicant in a GRU disinformation op.

This seems to be yet another example, along with anti White Helmets and chemical weapon conspiracy theories, where Russia has supported and amplified online conspiracy communities for their own political ends, and at least some members of those communities have played along.

The weaponisation of online conspiracy theories is something we see frequently from Russia, not just supporting and amplifying these communities, but stealing those theories to use in their own statements, which we've seen happen frequently in a variety of topics.

Only this week we've seen at the MH17 trial some of these theories used by Russia in its own propaganda, and even court filings, being picked apart and debunked. In the case of MH17, Russia has been stealing Internet conspiracies since the earliest days of the shoot down.

As far back in 2013 I was demonstrating how Russian officials as senior as Sergei Lavrov were using Internet conspiracy theories when responding to allegations of chemical weapon use in Syria, so this isn't something new or unique to MH17 brown-moses.blogspot.com/2013/10/making…

We also shouldn't forget the role of the Russian state media in all this. The GRU linked Bonanza Media has had its output frequently cited by Russia Today and other state media sites, and often platform individuals spreading conspriacy theories about topics Russia finds awkward.

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Eliot Higgins

@EliotHiggins

13 Jun

Over the years Bellingcat has become increasingly involved with the justice and accountability community, and what's become increasingly clear is how utterly detached most of the online debate about things like chemical weapon use in Syria are from the work of that community.

In recent years there’s been a great deal of interest in the use of open source evidence in a legal setting, and we’ve worked with a range of organisations, including human rights NGOS, academic institutes, bodies like the ICC and others to examine how it can be used.

There’s really a wide range of really important work being done by all those organisations, and great progress has been made over the last few years on understanding how open source evidence can be used in a legal setting without much fanfare.

Read 12 tweets

Eliot Higgins

@EliotHiggins

8 Jun

The MH17 trial is currently showing part of a Buk missile embedded in part of the debris of the aircraft, so I'm not sure how the conspiracy theorists are going to explain that one (although I'm sure they'll try).

All of those who insisted it was a Ukrainian SU-25 that shot down MH17 for years should really be ashamed of themselves after watching this presentation.

I had years of abuse from those conspiracy theorists, I hope they take this as an opportunity to reflect on their behaviour and apologise.

Read 4 tweets

Eliot Higgins

@EliotHiggins

8 Jun

https://twitter.com/MollyQuell/status/1402185990551359488

In the initial days after MH17 was shot down I collected all the photos of the cockpit section crash site and organised them so I had effectively a crowdsourced Google Street View version of the crash site, which helped make the area of impact damage more obvious.

https://twitter.com/MollyQuell/status/1402185990551359488

It was very clear at that point where the vast majority of the damage was done, and that it had come from outside the aircraft, so I could confirm very early on it was definitely an external explosion, not a bomb placed on the aircraft.

I remember a little community forming on Twitter and on forums just closely examining every part of the aircraft, trying to figure out which piece of debris fit where. This image was one that came out of those early efforts.

Read 5 tweets

Eliot Higgins

@EliotHiggins

3 Jun

@TwitterSafety

In all seriousness, will @TwitterSafety no longer permit statements claiming Syrian chemical weapon attacks were "false flags"? I'd be interested in seeing whose authority they refer to on that topic, because if its the OPCW then a whole lot of people will be censured.

https://twitter.com/TwitterSafety/status/1399863970371039232

@TwitterSupport

There's still a community of people who deny the Syrian government's Sarin attack on Khan Sheikhoun, and we've had the OPCW state they were the likely perpetrator of the attack, so will that be what @TwitterSupport uses to make these decisions?

I wouldn't be against that, but keep in mind the OPCW IIT has only laid blame in a handful of chemical attacks in Syria, so the conspiracy theorists could bang on about attacks like Douma that the IIT hasn't reported on if that was the level Twitter required.

Read 13 tweets

Eliot Higgins

@EliotHiggins

28 May

New from Bellingcat - US military personnel responsible for US nuclear weapons in European military bases are inadvertently sharing details about their security protocols and weapons storage online via flashcard apps. bellingcat.com/news/2021/05/2…

@ArmsControlWonk

Dr Jeffrey Lewis (@ArmsControlWonk),Director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, said that the findings showed a “flagrant breach” in security practices related to US nuclear weapons stationed in NATO countries.

Some flashcards uncovered during the course of this investigation had been publicly visible online as far back as 2013. Other sets detailed processes that were being learned by users until at least April 2021.

Read 12 tweets

Eliot Higgins

@EliotHiggins

28 Apr

So Unit 29155 has now been linked to three attempted assassination attempts using nerve agents, 5 warehouse explosions and one fire to cover up their involvement in the explosions, all in EU counties. Seems like it's time for a serious EU wide inquiry into Russian spy activity.

This doesn't even include things like the Berlin bicycle assassination, or the attempted coup in Montenegro, and all the other stuff we don't know about.

There's also many other trips to locations across Europe that have involved Unit 29155 members where we still don't know why they were there. It's clear they're involved in everything from coups to assassinations, so I think it's fair to assume the worse.

Read 6 tweets

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