Soldier’s Geotagged Instagram Selfies Land Russia and Putin in Hot Water

While Russia continues to claim it has no involvement in the civil conflict in Ukraine, the selfie-strewn Instagram profile of Russian soldier Sanya Sotkin may tell a slightly different story. A story which is landing Russian President, Vladimir Putin in even more hot water than he’s already in.

With the unwanted help of the ‘Photomap’ feature in Instagram, the 24-year-old’s Instagram profile shows a number of self-portraits that are geotagged inside the borders of Ukraine. More particularly, inside rebel-controlled territory, some of it dangerously close to the location of where Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 was tragically shot down, killing all 298 people on board.

From photographs during training to dozens of selfies, Sotkin’s profile is full of inadvertent intelligence that could help pin Russia for its undesired presence in the dangerous unrest.

Claiming to be a communication expert, Sotkin posted on July 7th, “I still don’t understand what we’re doing here, so we’re continuing to go slightly crazy, listen to #swedishhousemafia and wait for new news from Ukraine!”

There are no details on whether or not the soldier will be reprimanded in any way. But it’s safe to assume that Russia will soon be looking to prohibit any such forms of communication of soldiers while in the line of duty. This, of course, to stop other nations from using this accidental intelligence against Russia’s potentially-illegal endeavors.

(via The Drum)

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