Remote
Kevin Rothrock
@kevinrothrock@infosec.exchange
hyper-professional #Russia guy, managing editor of @meduza_en@masto.ai (all toots here are my views alone), ugly American based in Portland, Oregon (USA). Signal: @KevinRothrock.01
8593 Followers
79 Following
50 Posts
Joined April 07, 2023
All my stuff:
Boosted by @trending@homestead.social
kinda breathtaking to watch the U.S. media establishment lose its shit about one maybe-plague death in a Russian backwater town with 3,887 confirmed measles cases reported in the United States, SO FAR, in 2026
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Finally got around to reading Dexter Filkins’s profile of Jared Kushner. A perfect asshole, and the embodiment of the silver-spoon elite who literally cannot distinguish their own affluence from the national interest, fanatically convinced that their obscene wealth somehow means everyone wins. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/09/21/jared-kushners-dollar-diplomacy
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U.S. prosecutors say Oxygen Forensics concealed Russian ownership while selling phone-data extraction software 😮 to the Pentagon 😳 and Secret Service . Its alleged Russian owners also ran a Moscow company that supplied software to the FSB. https://www.rferl.org/a/us-russia-software-hacker-cyber-oxygen-forensics/33863370.html
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The Donald Trump: The U.S. is working on a “major deal” to buy Belarusian potash! Eat shit, Canada!
Lukashenko, hours earlier: Belarus has no potash to spare for Western markets, “even if we wanted to.”
https://news.zerkalo.io/economics/136881.html
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Ukraine’s 2026 counterattacks have regained more ground than its failed 2023 offensive, OSINT analyst Clément Molin says, putting the figure at about 450 sq km (175 sq mi). CIT agrees that this year’s local operations have been more successful by area, but says Molin overstates what can be confirmed near Sloviansk.
CIT also cautions that the comparison is imperfect: the 2023 campaign was a theater-wide offensive with major strategic objectives, whereas today’s operations are tactical and target looser Russian formations rather than prepared defensive lines.
https://t.me/istories_media/13686
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If you think you're having a bad day, ponder the "protest-voting strategies" available to Russian oppositionists and know that your situation could always be more pathetic. https://meduza.io/en/feature/2026/09/17/russia-s-first-parliamentary-election-since-the-full-scale-invasion-of-ukraine-begins-tomorrow-with-its-only-anti-war-party-barred-and-genuine-competition-all-but-eliminated
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i expect Trump's final words to be something to the effect of: "I'm alive and well"
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In a first, Italian NATO jets shot down a drone that entered Lithuania from Belarus overnight, Lithuanian officials said. Authorities say it likely carried explosives. It was brought down near a small rural village. https://www.lrt.lt/naujienos/lietuvoje/2/3052578/nkvc-drono-numusimo-vietoje-ivestas-planas-skydas-apziurimos-surinktos-nuolauzos
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is it acceptable to call into work sick when you run out of LLM usage tokens? y/n
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A rather alarming development in the case of Russian pro-peace parliamentary candidate Yulia Kuznetsova, who went missing after meeting voters in Moscow. She's resurfaced, saying a “difficult conversation” left her needing "psychological and medical help," but that she and her husband are safe. https://t.me/juliaharch/1898
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As some NATO allies worry Washington might cut forces in Europe, U.S. and Polish officials are apparently discussing a base in Poland for 10,000 American troops. The U.S. is also moving Army units to Lithuania and Estonia. 🤔 https://www.politico.com/news/2026/09/24/poland-us-base-troops-01091905
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Ukraine’s chess federation has asked the SBU to assess Zelensky adviser Mykhailo Podolyak’s decision to become a FIDE vice president under Timur Turlov, a businessman sanctioned by Ukraine. The federation wants a criminal case opened over his alleged “betrayal of Ukraine’s national interests.” https://t.me/echoonline_news/33589
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Nestlé has already lost control of its 6 Russian factories under Putin-ordered external administration. Recent statements promising "business as usual" come from the new Russian manager, not the OG-HQ. Switzerland is trying (diplomatically) to help the co. regain control. https://www.nzz.ch/wirtschaft/ruscafe-statt-nescafe-nestle-droht-in-russland-das-danone-drehbuch-ld.10025029
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At Lavrov’s NYC meeting with German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, Russia’s Foreign Ministry shared a report (in English) claiming that Kyiv staged the Bucha massacre. Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova later teased Wadephul for covering it with a notebook. https://t.me/MariaVladimirovnaZakharova/15041
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I rate this headline a 9/10 on the "it's nearly the weekend, innit" scale
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Hungary says it plans to end reliance on Russian energy by 2035... but first it wants another pass from Washington to keep buying Russian oil and gas. The current U.S. exemption expires Nov. 21. Will Trump still feel so giving with Orban out of office? https://t.me/radiogovoritmsk/279323
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That post-election autumn air is here: Russia’s Finance Ministry has proposed a 22% VAT on foreign marketplace purchases & a 100-ruble charge on parcels worth up to €200. Two weeks after saying tax increases were not under consideration, Kremlin spokesman Peskov declined to discuss the ministry's proposals. https://t.me/theinsider/52392 https://t.me/novaya_europe/67462
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Zelensky says Kyiv receives interceptors from partners *one or two at a time,* reliant on direct, personal negotiations with national leaders. He argues that only the US could help on a large scale and has asked Trump for more, despite shortages that are only getting worse. https://t.me/RBC_ua_news/206444
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A car bombing outside Yekaterinburg killed the driver & left Vladimir Tkachuk, creator of Russia's Upyr attack drones, in intensive care. It was the 2nd attack in a week on the head of a Russian drone firm: on July 29, a gunman in Tula shot Andrey Cherezov, owner of another drone supplier, 3 times. https://www.agents.media/pod-ekaterinburgom-soversheno-vtoroe-za-nedelyu-pokushenie-na-proizvoditelya-dronov/
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Russian investigators have linked methanol-contaminated alcohol sold in the Leningrad region to more than 45 deaths and serious injuries to several other people, Fontanka reports. Five defendants are in custody awaiting trial. https://t.me/fontankaspb/111179
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Russian publisher Individuum is shutting down after a criminal case tied to books targeted under Russia’s "LGBT propaganda" crackdown reached staff and later senior managers at Eksmo, which absorbed Individuum in 2024. Unfinished books will move elsewhere. https://t.me/theinsider/52475
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Two men Czech reporters linked to the pro-war Rybar channel have long lived legally in Germany while working for Izvestia, iStories reports. The EU bans Izvestia’s broadcasting and content distribution. (The men’s residence status and current whereabouts remain unclear.) https://t.me/istories_media/13665
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Replying to
@jmovs@mastodon.social To my knowledge, this incident was the first recorded interception of an intruding drone while it was airborne in Lithuanian airspace. Lithuanian military officials explicitly described it that way. Previous drones crashed or exploded without being intercepted.
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Russian missiles and drones struck Kyiv overnight, killing at least eight people. Five more were wounded, three of them children. Homes and civilian infrastructure were hit in three districts of the Ukrainian capital. https://t.me/dsns_telegram/73326
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Two people were killed when a Russian strike hit a business in Ukraine’s Zhytomyr region overnight. Other attacks wounded civilians near Kyiv, in Konotop, and in Zaporizhzhia, while drones damaged schools, clinics, homes, and utilities. https://t.me/activatica/60151
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Putin has endorsed a proposal by war correspondent Yevgeny Poddubny to let medically unfit men volunteer to help defend the homeland against Ukrainian drones. The unfit category includes epileptics, schizophrenics, and people with intellectual disabilities. https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/8937343
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Replying to
@deathmetal@metalhead.club They won't be storming anything, so I don't think that's the correct reading.
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Russian political scientist Alexander Kynev, a prominent expert on regional politics, has been jailed pending trial on a major drug charge, Mediazona reports. The offense carries a possible sentence of 10–20 years. https://t.me/mediazzzona/33845
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A Russian ballistic missile hit the Zaporizhstal steel mill in southern Ukraine as workers were heading to shelters after an air raid alert, the plant's parent group says. Seven people were reportedly killed and 21 wounded, and the mill has stopped work completely.
https://tvrain.tv/news/posle-rossijskoj-ataki-polnostju-ostanovilas-zaporozhstal-sem-chelovek-pogibli-21-ranen-574700/
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Watched Proekt's new investigation and wrote a lil' summary. https://kevinrothrock.substack.com/p/the-fsb-project-that-makes-the-sochi
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Russian ballistic missiles & drones hit the Kyiv region, killing at least 15 people, Ukrainian officials say. There's a reported ammonia leak, & residents are likely trapped under rubble. Moscow claims the attack hit logistics hubs holding military cargo & producing drones. https://t.me/tkachenkotymur/2623
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It seems we're back to the back-and-forth, pipe-dream talk of Kyiv manufacturing its own Patriot interceptors: today, Trump declined to confirm Zelensky’s claim that he agreed to grant the licenses. https://edition.cnn.com/2026/09/26/politics/trump-ukraine-patriot-missiles
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Yabloko campaign activist Varvara Kosheleva and her husband were reportedly attacked outside their Moscow home by men claiming to be Ukraine war veterans who called them “traitors.” Doctors diagnosed her with a concussion in addition to multiple bruises. https://t.me/Duntsova/1109
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No sarcasm, no jokes. I genuinely believe that Nathan Fielder is a filmmaking genius. This looks incredible. https://youtu.be/HvW_N5p1q44?si=z4f6TLzMBDIT5u6D
You Can See Everything | Official Trailer HD | A24
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Replying to
@richpuchalsky@mastodon.social I suspect more and more people will come to share this sentiment in the decades ahead.
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FT says Kremlin-backed fintech A7 ("a group set up as an alternative to the Western payments system") used front companies and forged invoices to move more than $6.9B through global banks despite sanctions on Russia. The flows touched Standard Chartered, Citi, JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank, & DBS. https://www.ft.com/content/3848a4ad-1426-4352-ba86-ef1279c4ffd1
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Finland has no Patriot missiles to give Ukraine & Defense Minister Antti Häkkänen won't say what air defense it is sending. As a frontline state, he said, Finland can't endanger its own readiness. US industry can cover the acute shortage, he said, but it's slowed by bureaucracy.
https://www.is.fi/politiikka/art-2000012190107.html
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A Russian military court sentenced two Ukrainian POWs, Dmytro Horiainov and Roman Ponomarenko, to a maximum-security prison for 18 and 19 years for serving in the Azov Battalion. Russia has also added both men to its official registry of “terrorists and extremists.”
https://zona.media/news/2026/08/06/azov
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FSO guards & National Guard troops sealed off a Moscow cemetery for the burial of a major general said to have died in the Aug. 1 restaurant bombing that killed 5 people, according to the Telegram channel VChK-OGPU. Russian Ground Forces and Aerospace Forces flags were spotted. https://t.me/astrapress/121354
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The peoples of Belarus and North Korea will soon enjoy the fruits of visa-free travel to one another's freedom-loving lands, says Belarusian Foreign Minister Maxim Ryzhenkov. https://t.me/kommersant/113735
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