Snapshot Sleuthing Confirms Russian Military Presence In Ukraine
Reports of the Russian military helping pro-Russian separatist fighters in Ukraine are common — but can be hard to confirm. Russia denies that its soldiers are fighting in Ukraine.
VICE News correspondent Simon Ostrovsky decided to retrace the steps of one soldier — as documented in the soldier's social media posts — to see where exactly the soldier had been, and if this might help confirm Russia's direct involvement in Ukraine.
Ostrovsky's new documentary, Selfie Soldiers, chronicles his journey in the footsteps of Bato Dambaev, who he'd confirmed was enlisted in the Russian military. He then contacted Dambaev directly.
The film follows up on recent work by the Atlantic Council, a Washington, D.C., think tank that issued a report relying on open-source information to track and verify locations where photos and videos of Russian soldiers and equipment have been taken in Ukraine.
"I wanted to find any way to be able to confirm what pretty much everybody already believes, which is that the Russian government has been directly involved in the conflict in eastern Ukraine," Ostrovsky tells NPR's Arun Rath.
"And it just happened to be that it was the Russian soldiers themselves who provided that proof inadvertently, by posting photographs of themselves online in Ukraine," he says. "And it couldn't have been simpler. So there it is."
Interview Highlights
On how he found Bato Dambaev
We were working together with the Atlantic Council and Elliott Higgins, who's a citizen journalist who's been geolocating — which is to say, finding the location of photographs — for a long time, until we found one who'd posted a photograph of himself in an area that looked like it was a battlefield and was different from all of the other photographs that he'd posted of himself.
So once we saw that there was a photograph there that looked a lot like it could have been taken in Ukraine, we started focusing on this soldier. ... We traced his entire journey from Siberia, 4,000 miles away, to eastern Ukraine.
On Dambaev's reaction
He denied everything. I think he'd actually been prepared, as all soldiers are, that they're supposed to take off their insignia before they go into Ukraine. They're supposed to not take cellphones with them. He'd broken that rule, so he knew that he was in trouble.
I know that he reported me having contacted him immediately after I spoke with him on the phone. And this isn't in the film, but a few hours after I put the phone down, the security services came and paid me a visit in my hotel and I was essentially hounded by them out of Russia thereafter.
On Russia denying its role in Ukraine
It's a very sensitive issue, the participation of Russian soldiers in Ukraine, because everybody from Putin on down denies that it's happening. So until Russians understand, until the Russian government admits that it's taking part in the conflict, I don't think there's going to be any kind of a resolution. And I hope that this film brings us a little bit closer, at least, to that sort of an admission that it's going on. ...
One ... way I think the Russians are trying to prevent this kind of reporting is I've been applying for journalist accreditation, which I've been able to get before, for the last year, over a year. And it was a few days after I was basically pushed out of Russia that I finally got an email saying that I would be denied journalist paperwork.
An explanation was never given to me, and I think this is an extra method that the government is using to prevent reporting on its activities on Ukraine.
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Transcript
ARUN RATH, HOST:
Last summer, the Ukrainian military pushed into Debaltseve, a city in Eastern Ukraine being held by separatist forces loyal to Russia. In January, those separatists pushed back.
(SOUNDBITE OF GUNFIRE)
RATH: And they won. Pro-Russian rebels took back the city, but many say they had help. There were these soldiers. You can see them online, in pictures and on YouTube - soldiers who looked different from their faces to their unmarked uniforms, who reportedly backed up the militia with guns and tanks. Some locals still living in Debaltseve say these soldiers are part of the Russian army, even though the Kremlin denies it. So VICE News correspondent Simon Ostrovsky decided to track the soldiers through their postings on social media. His new documentary is called "Selfie Soldiers."
SIMON OSTROVSKY: I wanted to find any way to be able to confirm, you know, well, what pretty much everybody already believes, which is that the Russian government has been directly involved in the conflict in Eastern Ukraine. And it just happened to be that it was the Russian soldiers themselves that provided that proof inadvertently by posting photographs of themselves online in Ukraine. It couldn't have been simpler, but, you know, there it is.
RATH: So tell us about how you came across the selfies of the Russian soldier Bato Dambaev - what you learned about him.
OSTROVSKY: So we were working together with the Atlantic Council and Eliot Higgins, who's a citizen journalist who's been geo-locating, which is to say finding the location of photographs, for a long time, until we found one who'd posted a photograph of himself in an area that looked like it was the battlefield and was different from all of the other photographs that he'd posted of himself. So once we saw that there was a photograph there that looked a lot like it could've been taken in Ukraine, we started focusing on the soldier, and he was called Bato Dambaev. We traced his entire journey from Siberia, 4,000 miles away, to Eastern Ukraine.
RATH: One photo in particular, where it's down to, like, the individual branches on a tree that just match up perfectly - it's kind of hard to deny. You managed to actually reach Bato on the phone. What did he have to say?
OSTROVSKY: He denied everything. I think he'd actually been prepared, as all soldiers are, that they're supposed take off their insignia before they go into Ukraine. I know that he reported me having contacted him immediately after I spoke with him on the phone. And this isn't in the film, but the security services came and paid me a visit at my hotel. And I was essentially hounded by them out of Russia thereafter. It's a very sensitive issue. Everybody from Putin on down denies that it's happening. So until Russians understand - until the Russian government admits that it's taking part in the conflict, I don't think there's going to be any kind of a resolution. And I hope that this film brings us a little bit closer, at least, to that sort of an admission that it's going on.
RATH: Simon, I have to ask you - I mean, you talked about this kind of unnerving experience you had on this recent trip. On a previous trip, you were actually kidnapped by pro-Russian separatists. You're back in Moscow now. How safe do you feel doing this reporting?
OSTROVSKY: Well, I'm not doing any reporting at the moment, so I don't feel like I'm ruffling anybody's feathers right now. I'm just here visiting friends and family. One other thing - I think that the way that the Russians are trying to prevent this kind of reporting is I've been applying for journalist accreditation, which I've been able to get before, for the last year - over a year. And it was a few days after I was basically pushed out of Russia that I finally got an email saying that I would be denied journalist paperwork. An explanation has never been given to me. And I think this is an extra method that the government is using to prevent reporting on its activities in Ukraine.
RATH: Simon Ostrovsky is a correspondent for VICE News. Simon, thanks very much.
OSTROVSKY: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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