Have soldiers’ selfies given away Russia’s Ukraine role?
Russia continues to deny its soldiers are operating officially in Ukraine. Russian soldiers have been rushing to delete information on Instagram that may tell a different story.
Russian paratroopers caught by Ukrainian authorities this week in Ukraine said they were lost.
And pro-Russian rebels have said that a number of Russian soldiers who are in Ukraine are there because they have chosen to take their holidays fighting for the rebels, rather than on a beach.
But Instagram profiles of a number of Russian soldiers indicate that Russia’s version of the SAS may be fighting in eastern Ukraine, and that around 40 Russian soldiers from Pskov, in the far west of Russia, may have died there, according to the investigative site Belling Cat.
Some of the soldiers have been deleting the comments on Instagram that have caught them out.
Geotagged selfies
One soldier, writing under the name of Egorkahools, seems to fight with the 76th Airborne Guards Division in Pskov, the regiment that saw some of its troops captured in Ukraine.
In his Instagram feed, in which a selfie is “geotagged” with co-ordinates that match that of the base of his division, he discusses his reluctance to return to fight in Ukraine. These comments have since been deleted from his profile.
He says he has just returned from Ukraine, that the casualities for one unit are as many as 40, and that “our conscripts are going too”.
He continues:”It’s best not to rush there… it’s s**t”, according to translations by a Russian freelance journalist under the name of “Magnitsky”.
The post on the soldier’s Instagram feed also suggest it is more than just a few soldiers on holiday, but a rotation of units. He writes: “We were replaced by the 2nd BTGR.”
Fascist links
Other posts on the soldier’s Instagram page show him giving a Nazi salute, his profile picture is that of the Waffen-SS, he is associated with a nationalist football firm, and he posted a “white power” drawing. Another soldier in his unit is also pictured on Instagram in images that indicate neo-Nazi sympathies.
An Instagram account of another soldier indicates that the Russian equivalent of the SAS has been taking part in operations in Ukraine.
One photo includes a comment on a photo of a border crossing, along with the words “we are already close, f****** Banderas”, a reference to a Ukraine nationalist fighter. He makes it clear that it is not holidays but “work, of course”.
“Selfies are not about to become the new military intelligence. They may, however, be the new war art,” said Jonathan Jones in the Guardian, after some journalists in July suggested that one Russian soldier’s use of the word “buk” indicated that he may have worked on a BUK launcher, suspected of shooting doing Malaysia Airlines flight MH17. “Buk”, however, was more likely a reference to working on a laptop notebook.
“Media coverage of these pictures suggests many of us are all too ready to ratchet up the tension because of some dodgy snapshots. War by Instagram.”