Speaking of Telegram…

Check out this page of notes. It's in Latvian so you probably can't read it. What do they say, why the cute little airplane, and what's the connection?

They're instructions for spying on a NATO base. Written down by a young man recruited on Telegram. (👇) That young man was no James Bond. He lost these notes, which found their way into the hands of the Latvian police, who eventually tracked him down.

He and an accomplice — so young that he was nicknamed "the Kid" — pled guilty to being recruited by Russian intelligence.

A climate of fear has descended on Kyrgyzstan. Investigative journalists jailed for "inciting unrest." Activists afraid to take books to the country. My latest for @OCCRP. occrp.org/en/uncensored-… I spent one really amazing and eye-opening summer in Kyrgyzstan in 2011. I still remember how many cool projects the country's young people were doing. Feminist performances, disabled rights activism, peace-building workshops.

It was already obvious a decade ago, but let the final word fall on this horrible day: There is nothing and no one within Russia that can overthrow Putin by themselves. Navalny did his best to bend the curve, exhorting Putin opponents to bravery and unity, but (though he kept denying this) he faced one insurmountable problem: There are not enough of them.

It’s long been known that — despite Western sanctions — the Russian military is supplying itself with foreign technology through third countries.

But how do these supply chains actually work? We investigated.

occrp.org/en/investigati… First we looked at drones. Consumer models have become ubiquitous in the war, used by both sides for recon, artillery spotting, and propaganda videos.

They can also kill. Here, a Russian soldier attaches a grenade to a consumer drone.

.@DiePressecom has done an interesting interview with Andrei Illarionov, a former senior economic advisor to Putin. A 🧵 👇
diepresse.com/6203073/putins… Just as background: Illarionov served in the gov't from 2000, the very early Putin era. Major accomplishments attributed to him include the 13 percent flat tax, the stabilization fund, and getting Russia into the G8.

This tweet was a cry of frustration. I don’t really regret it, but it’s not a model for how to engage on Twitter. You never want to look dumber than the other guy.

As penance, here’s a more considered thread about why I’m alarmed when Mate and his ideas get mainstream exposure.

https://twitter.com/ichbinilya/status/1578853790773809152

First off, he absolutely denies Assad war crimes.

On April 7, 2018, 40-something people were killed by a chemical attack in Douma, a suburb of Aleppo. There were horrific videos ​​of dead children with foam in their mouths. On the day after, local rebels surrendered.

Very smart and appropriate decision, in my opinion, to award the Nobel Peace Prize to a Belarusian activist and to NGOs in both Ukraine and Russia. Well deserved on all counts.

Short thread 👇 The Ukrainian recipient was the Center for Civil Liberties, which is now documenting Russian war crimes, but also does important broader work on human rights and civic freedoms. ccl.org.ua/en/about-the-c…

The world knows Bucha and Mariupol, but there's hardly a corner of Ukraine untouched by Russian crimes.

We've just published this story about Andriivka, a small village about an hour outside Kyiv. Please read and share.

Important bits in this thread 👇 occrp.org/en/investigati… Andriivka is a small village of just 1500 people. This is what it looked like after the Russian military spent a month occupying it.

@istories_media reporter Ekaterina Fomina travelled there to document Russian crimes — there were 13 dead civilians, and over 40 still missing.

Just watched a very uncomfortable exchange on @tvrain. The anchor, Anna Mongait, was interviewing Sergei Leschenko, a former Ukrainian legislator and now an advisor to Zelensky's office.

It was a polite interview, but at the end something happened that made my hair stand on end. The last topic was an upcoming Russian show trial of captured Azov prisoners.

As her last question, trying to wrap up, Mongait asked whether Leschenko would watch it.

A transcript of their exchange:

One of my favorite Russian poets and singer-songwriters, Veronika Dolina, just published a moving poem about how strange and alien her beloved Moscow feels, given what Russia is doing.

Normally I'd share it, but I've sort of hit my limit with wistful Russian liberal sadness. She's made it clear from the beginning that she's devastated by the war, so it's not really about her. And no matter what happens, I'll always love the Russian language and all the great and humane things that have been written and composed in it. But...

I just spoke with a senior employee from Amnesty International.

Their sum-up: “It’s a dark moment for the movement, there’s no other way to put it.”

Also: "We threw a party the Russian state was eager to attend for its own political purposes.”

More in this (long) thread 👇 If you’re just joining us, at issue is this report just issued by @amnesty that criticizes the Ukrainian military for basing themselves in civilian areas. It’s been met with a firestorm of criticism from Ukrainians and specialists in the law of war.

amnesty.org/en/latest/news…

There's been lots of smart, strong criticism of @amnesty's Ukraine report by specialists in the laws of war (I'll link below) — not to mention their own colleagues on the ground — so I don't want to defend the report itself.

But I think it's worth pointing out a few things: a) It's not correct to accuse Amnesty of only going after Ukraine while leaving Russia alone. They've published dozens of items on Russian atrocities. amnesty.org/en/latest/news…

I did a quick and dirty translation of the hyper-nationalistic screed that was posted by Dmitry Medvedev's VK account a few hours ago, and then quickly removed.

His spokesman says the account was hacked, and that he didn't write it. That doesn't sound very plausible to me. Russian social networks are all joking that it was a drunk post. But who knows? If it wasn't a hack, it's hard to understand what the point was. A signal to hardline nationalists?

Alesya Marakhovskaya, a really great Russian journalist who has left the country, just wrote an impassioned Facebook post about how the war is tearing apart her family.

With her permission, I'm translating into English in this thread. People should see what this looks like. 👇 I recently fought with my close relatives. It began with all the classics about the war. They used words straight out of the darkest depths of propaganda:

- 'They have fascist marches.'

- 'Why is NATO at our borders?'

- 'We gave them their country.'

If you missed our big Russia story, do check it out. We used a mysterious email domain to identify an interconnected group of companies that hold all the assets ever ascribed to Putin.

Here's a thread with a summary & some thoughts on what it means 👇
occrp.org/en/asset-track… In short: For years, activists and reporters have been looking for Putin's wealth. And they've found a lot. Most notoriously, this huge palace on the Black Sea thoroughly investigated by @navalny. But also multiple villas and residences, a hotel, a ski resort, etc.

However...

This is Nastya Chukovskaya, a Russian woman living in Budapest who, along with her partner, has helped countless Ukrainian refugees find shelter, food, and other assistance.

This is her face as she describes her experience trying to get the United States embassy to help. 👇 “From the very beginning of the conflict, the US embassy in Budapest has been doing nothing for refugees.

I went there with two families to translate for them. These families have ties to America. Some of their brothers, sisters, relatives are waiting for them there.”

History being falsified in real-time!

From @sssmirnov, here’s a Telegram screenshot of Dmitriy Steshin, a “journalist” for Russian tabloid KP, sharing a post by another account.

It says: “10 min ago, strikes on Kramatorsk railway station. [Attacking] group of Ukr fighters.” The implication is that they're Russian strikes.

Now that the civilian deaths are clear, Steshin's account no longer has that repost.

But the original post by SILOVIKI is still there. Except you can see it's been edited! The reference to attacking Ukrainian fighters is gone.

If you've found the "Boycotting Russian athletes and celebrities is wrong" argument compelling, please read this response to that very issue from Ukraine's President Zelensky.

You don't have to agree, but it's worth hearing him out. (my translation👇) "You asked about boycotting or not, right? Look, I think that [as a Russian] you can't feel the pain we've felt. But you should know. You should know, and feel at least some kind of discomfort. Then you'll know that you're not like everyone else."

This piece is really confused. The "normie" centrist position — not the leftist position! — is that the US should help Ukraine, but not become an active participant in the conflict. That's what Biden is doing. It's NOT what the DSA is saying. theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/… The DSA is saying this. 0.5 tweets in a perfunctory condemnation of Russia, and then 10.5 tweets railing against everyone else.

https://twitter.com/DSA_Intl_Comm/status/1504198630483259396?s=20&t=uCPOB0RMw0ku8zaPvnB9iw

Russian writer and economist Maxim Mironov (@mironov_fm) has written an absolutely fascinating critique of the elite Russian media space. Read it here 👇 if you speak Russian. If you don't, keep reading this thread for my translation.

https://twitter.com/mironov_fm/status/1504461233042374657

“How we f*cked everything up.

When the war began, everyone was horrified for two reasons. First, because Putin launched this insane war. Second, because most of the population supported him in this aggression.

When I saw the opinion surveys, I didn’t believe them.”

Russian writer Boris Akunin, on 'discrimination' against Russian:

"Over the last several days, the words 'Russia' and 'Russian' have become swear words. They've become toxic. It's an emotional reaction. It's not going be fair. Because what's happening is an atrocity." More wisdom in those words, spoken in 10 seconds, than in three hours of podcast bullshittery. Yes, there are overreactions. Yes, it's not fair. But let's remember why it's happening. Because human beings have an aversion to needless war and senseless brutality.