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Luke Harding Profile picture
@lukeharding1968
Mar 30 • 10 tweets • 9 min read Twitter logo Read on Twitter
Boom! Leaked documents from #Moscow shed light on Vladimir Putin's shadowy cyber-warfare capabilities: hacking, disinformation, propaganda. Here's our story on the #VulkanFiles, supplied by a whistleblower unhappy at Ukraine war and who is now a "ghost" theguardian.com/technology/202…
Our story follows a months-long investigation into Vulkan, a cyber-security firm in Moscow. Its clients include the #FSB, Putin's old spy agency; the Russian military and the #GRU intelligence agency; and the SVR, the foreign intelligence outfit, emails and multiple docs show
The #VulkanFiles are published today by international media partners and newspapers including @paper_trail_m @derspiegel @SZ @washingtonpost @ZDFfrontal @derStandardat @tagesanzeiger
@lemondefr @istories_media @DRNyheder
There's a tantalising mention in #VulkanFiles of unit 74455 aka Sandworm, Russia's most notorious hacking group. One of Vulkan's training programmes, Scan, simulates attacks on critical infrastructure in enemy states: rail, ports, nuclear power stations, industrial control rooms
Vulkan's co-founder Anton Markov is military trained and a major, with close links to Moscow's spy world. In leaked emails, he tells staff to take part in May 9 parades to mark the Red Army's defeat of Nazi Germany. "Veterans died for us so we can live in #Russia," he writes
The whistleblower who supplied #VulkanFiles has disappeared. “Because of the events in Ukraine, I decided to make this information public. The company is doing bad things and the Russian government is cowardly and wrong," they said, adding that FSB & GRU "hide behind" Vulkan
As well as details of technical programs - Scan, Amezit, Fraction - the #VulkanFiles shed light on the secret life of Russian spies. Vulkan developers nickname their FSB clients "book-lovers"; the SVR commissioned various covert projects including "sanatorium" and "dispensary"
Some great reporting on #VulkanFiles by our media partners including this from @f_obermaier and @paper_trail_m + @derspiegel team (German) spiegel.de/thema/vulkanfi… and @ZDF documentary with English sub-titles mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbo…
Here's @AndreiSoldatov on #VulkanFiles: "The docs depict a new world of collaboration between the Russian military & its secret police. And they show how much more aggressive Putin’s siloviki, or security forces, have become since the collapse of the USSR"
theguardian.com/technology/202…
@AndreiSoldatov Here's English language translation of @derspiegel's excellent piece from our #VulkanFiles investigation spiegel.de/international/…

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More from @lukeharding1968

Luke Harding Profile picture
Aug 16, 2022
I spent a week travelling along #Ukraine's southern frontline, from Odesa and Mykolaiv to Kryvyi Rih and Nikopol. Here's my report on #Kyiv's quest to take back the city of Kherson and other occupied territories lost to #Russia. Video: @christophcherry theguardian.com/world/2022/aug…
Ukraine has used Himars systems to clinical effect. It has disabled crossing points over the Dnipro including Kherson's Antonivsky bridge, and has left Russian troops on the river's right-bank dangerously exposed. In contrast to the east, these southern positions look vulnerable
But my sense is a large-scale Ukrainian counter-offensive is unlikely in the immediate future. Partly because Kyiv doesn't want to repeat the mistakes of Russia's Soviet-style campaign in February and March, when over-long tank and technical columns tried and failed to take #Kyiv
Read 9 tweets
Luke Harding Profile picture
Apr 13, 2022
A symbol of imperial hubris. Destroyed Russian armoured vehicle next to the exclusion zone in Chornobyl. The white letters read: "Glory to Ukraine". Around 1000 #Russian servicemen lived in the nuclear power plant for over a month, digging trenches, tank shelters and a kitchen... Image
I spoke today to the head of state agency which manages the zone. He said the Russian soldiers who breathed in radioactive dust will feel the consequences, "some in months, some in years". "This is the first time the world has seen tanks at a nuclear power plant," he said
Thousands of military vehicles trundled through the nuclear zone between Feb 24 and March 31, when #Russia retreated. Radiation levels are presently unknown because Putin's soldiers stole the plant's computer servers, as well as tables, microwaves and Chornobyl staff uniforms
Read 5 tweets
Luke Harding Profile picture
Mar 9, 2022
Deputy mayor of #Mariupol Sergiy Orlov has just been speaking. Says city under "continuous Russian shelling", genocide taking place, 1170 people killed, 47 buried today in a mass grave. No water, heat, power, gas, with residents drinking snow and burning firewood. "It's medieval"
Orlov: "Putin is intent on having Ukraine without Ukrainians. It's pure genocide. The attack being waged by Russia isn't simply treacherous. It's a war crime. They are attacking us with aviation, shells, multiple rocket launchers."
Orlov says #Russian army has shelled evacuation corridor, mined the road and put in a check point. 200K people desperate to leave, only 2-3K able to get out daily on 21 municipal buses. The others destroyed. Russians deliberately shelling assembly points for those trying to exit
Read 7 tweets
Luke Harding Profile picture
Feb 21, 2022
Here's @guardian write up of Putin's terrifying and delusional speech this evening. An extraordinary mash up of grievances and lies. Clearly a Russian military offensive is coming & on a large scale
I spoke to #Ukraine's former defence minister Andriy Zagorodnyuk. He said any attempt by Putin to capture additional territory in the east or beyond would mean full blown war - "attacks, resistance, deaths, casualties, losses, plus a war crimes trial"
theguardian.com/world/live/202…
He said: “Ukraine has lots of weapons and Ukraine is not going to give up territory just like that. Why the hell should we? It’s like someone comes to UK and says ‘Now I think this town should belong to France’. Obviously it’s going to be a very nasty process, dramatic and tragic
Read 6 tweets
Luke Harding Profile picture
Jan 19, 2022
My latest report from #Ukraine's uneasy frontline and the port city of Mariupol. Video by @VolodymyrYurch and @guardian film coming soon. With thanks to @USCC_center theguardian.com/world/2022/jan…
The Ukrainian troops I met are motivated, professional and ready to defend their homes. But it's also clear they are badly outgunned by (pro) #Russian forces. The war continues, with shots and grenade fire when we visited the spectacularly wrecked frontline village of Shyrokyne
"The village’s seaside complex resembles a phantasmagoric film set. An alley of pulverised flats leads on to a glass-strewn terrace. There is a rusted child’s bike, a washing machine and a savagely twisted bonnet from a GAZ-53 truck. Swimming is not advised: the beach is mined"
Read 5 tweets
Luke Harding Profile picture
Dec 22, 2021
Breaking: Roman Abramovich has settled his lawsuit against @CatherineBelton and Harper Collins over her acclaimed book #Putin's People. Agreement reached overnight
Abramovich will not receive damages and will pay his own costs. Harper Collins has agreed to include additional denials and acknowledges that it is not a statement of fact that the oligarch bought Chelsea FC at Vladimir Putin's behest
It has also corrected a claim that Boris Berezovsky was a co-owner of the Russian oil giant Sibneft, following 2012 high court ruling. All in all, a victory for Belton and investigative journalism. Harper Collins statement here: corporate.harpercollins.co.uk/press-releases…
Read 4 tweets

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