Thread by @bellingcat

As 2021 comes to a close, here’s a look back at just some of the stories produced by Bellingcat over the past year.

From Colombia to the US & from Russia to Ethiopia, our work has spanned the globe. It has also helped convict an assassin & identify potential war crimes 🧵

In January, @IWriteOK detailed how far-right protestors were discussing and planning for violence in the days leading up to the Capitol riot. The article was to prove worryingly prescient bellingcat.com/news/americas/…

@IwriteOK Bellingcat investigators were documenting events as the US Capitol was stormed, archiving posts and videos for future research. This piece on the death of one protestor was among our most read stories of 2021: bellingcat.com/news/2021/01/0…

@IwriteOK The QAnon conspiracy played a significant role in radicalising many of those that would storm the US Capitol. Bellingcat looked into the origins of "Q" in this January article bellingcat.com/news/americas/…

@IwriteOK Later in the year, we would use image metadata and geolocation techniques to identify some of the places the person or people claiming to be “Q” appeared to have visited bellingcat.com/news/rest-of-w…

@IwriteOK In February @IWriteOk reported that a woman accused of stealing House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s laptop during the Capitol riot had been filmed making a Nazi salute bellingcat.com/news/americas/…

@IwriteOK After our December 2020 investigation into the poisoning of Alexey Navalny, we continued to look at the mysterious circumstances surrounding the deaths of some Russian activists bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-eu…

@IwriteOK In February, we revealed that another prominent Russian opposition figure, Vladimir Kara-Murza, had been tailed by members of an FSB squad shortly before two suspected poisonings attempts bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-eu…

@IwriteOK In June, we reported that Russian poet and commentator Dmitry Bykov, who had fallen mysteriously ill in 2019, had been tailed by some of the same FSB officers who had targeted Navalny bellingcat.com/news/2021/06/0…

@IwriteOK Bellingcat and its partners were commended for the investigation into the @Navalny poisoning in 2021. @christogrozev and partners at @the_ins_ru and @derspiegel received Germany’s prestigious Nannen Preis

https://twitter.com/grunerundjahr/status/1399776263624089606

@IwriteOK @navalny @christogrozev @the_ins_ru @derspiegel In September, Bellingcat and @CNN received two Emmy Awards for the Navalny poisoning investigation

https://twitter.com/bellingcat/status/1443137631123030023?s=20

@IwriteOK @navalny @christogrozev @the_ins_ru @derspiegel @CNN Bellingcat also received an @Amnesty Media Award award for the second series of the Bellingcat podcast which investigated the murder of innocent civilians by soldiers in northern Cameroon

https://twitter.com/bellingcat/status/1387502467961741322?s=20

@IwriteOK @navalny @christogrozev @the_ins_ru @derspiegel @CNN @amnesty In April, Bellingcat investigator @gianfiorella joined forces with @Newsy and #BBCAfricaEye to reveal the location of a brutal massacre of civilians during the Tigray conflict in Ethiopia bellingcat.com/news/2021/04/0…

@IwriteOK @navalny @christogrozev @the_ins_ru @derspiegel @CNN @amnesty @gianfiorella @Newsy Also in April, we revealed a senior figure from Russia's GRU had been involved in a mysterious explosion at a Czech arms depot. Two operatives charged by UK police in relation the Salisbury poisonings also appeared to have been part of the operation bellingcat.com/news/2021/04/2…

@IwriteOK @navalny @christogrozev @the_ins_ru @derspiegel @CNN @amnesty @gianfiorella @Newsy Our most read story of 2021 was published in May. @foekepostma detailed how US service members based in Europe had inadvertently revealed the exact location of nuclear weapons they were meant to be guarding on quiz apps (as well as security protocols) bellingcat.com/news/2021/05/2…

@IwriteOK @navalny @christogrozev @the_ins_ru @derspiegel @CNN @amnesty @gianfiorella @Newsy @FoekePostma Covid-19 continued seriously impact countries around the world in 2021. @obtusatum analysed Twitter data to put together this piece revealing the scale of the Covid crisis in India bellingcat.com/news/2021/04/2…

@IwriteOK @navalny @christogrozev @the_ins_ru @derspiegel @CNN @amnesty @gianfiorella @Newsy @FoekePostma @obtusatum .@Bellingcatmonitoring dipped its toe in sports reporting in September with this investigation by @ColborneMichael into the Hungarian football fans bringing racists and homophobic banners into stadiums during and after #Euro2020 bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-eu…

@IwriteOK @navalny @christogrozev @the_ins_ru @derspiegel @CNN @amnesty @gianfiorella @Newsy @FoekePostma @obtusatum @ColborneMichael In October, Bellingcat crowdsourced satellite image taskings – something we think has never been done before. Readers asked us to capture images of locations in China, La Palma, Diego Garcia and Libya. We duly obliged bellingcat.com/resources/2021…

@IwriteOK @navalny @christogrozev @the_ins_ru @derspiegel @CNN @amnesty @gianfiorella @Newsy @FoekePostma @obtusatum @ColborneMichael A year-long investigation into the “Wagnergate” operation produced another of 2021’s most popular stories. Members of Ukraine’s special forces & Russian mercenaries provided remarkable detail of an operation that continues to make headlines in Ukraine bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-eu…

@IwriteOK @navalny @christogrozev @the_ins_ru @derspiegel @CNN @amnesty @gianfiorella @Newsy @FoekePostma @obtusatum @ColborneMichael In late 2021, self declared Proud Boy Alan Swinney was found guilty on charges relating to violence around protests in Portland.

Bellingcat had earlier obtained video apparently shot by Swinney where he appeared to discuss attacks on left wing activists bellingcat.com/news/2021/02/1…

@IwriteOK @navalny @christogrozev @the_ins_ru @derspiegel @CNN @amnesty @gianfiorella @Newsy @FoekePostma @obtusatum @ColborneMichael In Germany, evidence gathered by Bellingcat was used to help convict Vadim Krasikov for the assassination of a Chechen dissident residing in Berlin.

The court concluded that the killing was carried out on behalf of state authorities in Russia bellingcat.com/bellingcat-sta…

@IwriteOK @navalny @christogrozev @the_ins_ru @derspiegel @CNN @amnesty @gianfiorella @Newsy @FoekePostma @obtusatum @ColborneMichael Open source environmental research was another area Bellingcat looked to explore during 2021.

This piece by @oballinger and @wammezz showed how satellite technology could help identify damaging oil spills in Iraq and beyond bellingcat.com/resources/2021…

@IwriteOK @navalny @christogrozev @the_ins_ru @derspiegel @CNN @amnesty @gianfiorella @Newsy @FoekePostma @obtusatum @ColborneMichael @oballinger @wammezz We also looked into the underground animal trade in Dubai, another fascinating investigation from @foekepostma that was greatly aided by celebrity Instagram posts bellingcat.com/news/mena/2021…

@IwriteOK @navalny @christogrozev @the_ins_ru @derspiegel @CNN @amnesty @gianfiorella @Newsy @FoekePostma @obtusatum @ColborneMichael @oballinger @wammezz Bellingcat ended the year with another major investigation, this time into the death of Colombian student Lucas Villa. @Mabl2K worked with @cerosetenta @BaudoAP and @ForensicArchi to raise urgent new questions about the police response to his killing bellingcat.com/news/2021/12/0…

@IwriteOK @navalny @christogrozev @the_ins_ru @derspiegel @CNN @amnesty @gianfiorella @Newsy @FoekePostma @obtusatum @ColborneMichael @oballinger @wammezz @Mabl2K @cerosetenta @BaudoAP @ForensicArchi These have been just some of the highlights of 2021 at Bellingcat, with much more already in the pipeline for 2022.

You can donate to Bellingcat to help fund our future investigations here: bellingcat.com/donate