Dead Drop: April 7

THE UN-REAL HOUSEWIVES OF THE 960^TH ASSAULT AVIATION REGIMENT:  A group of Ukrainian hacktivists and journalists recently pulled a fast one on the wife of the commander of the Russian unit that bombed a theater in Mariupol a year ago, killing hundreds of civilians. The hacker group, known as “Cyber Resistance” and a group of journalists who go by the name  “Inform Napalm” fooled the wife of Colonel Sergey Antroshchenko into gathering the wives and girlfriends of the other pilots and getting them to pose in front of an SU-25 airplane wearing their guy’s uniform tunics including medals and other identifying information.  Cyber Resistance also claimed to have hacked Colonel Antroshchenko’s Ministry of Defense Records and also obtained and published scantily clad photos his wife that were reportedly sent to him to keep his morale up. We’re guessing that some of the images published by Inform Napalm, like the ID’s of those assigned to the unit – are likely to improve morale for those who are investigating war crimes.

I KNOW YOU ARE BUT WHAT AM I?  Russian State TV seemed excited to report the arrest of Wall Street Journal Reporter Evan Gershkovich on allegations of “espionage.” They confidently asserted that Gershkovich was not really a journalist (which the WSJ countered by making his recent reporting available outside the typical Journal paywall.) Russian Media Monitor Julia Davis pointed out a TV segment where Russian pundits said they hoped their spies working undercover as reporters in the U.S. are more sophisticated and don’t get caught.