In November 2023, Ukrainian hacktivists of the Cyber Resistance team announced that they had gained unauthorized access to the global media monitoring system Katyusha operated by the Department of Information and Mass Communications (DIMC) of the Russian Ministry of Defense. Details about that CYBINT operation were exclusively published in 8 languages on the website of the InformNapalm volunteer intelligence community.
It turned out that in addition to the Katyusha monitoring system, Ukrainian hacktivists also gained access to the email correspondence of some Russian officers of the DIMC. The Department is led by Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov, who gained notoriety as the speaker of the Russian Ministry of Defense for voicing Russian propaganda updates from the front line since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Mailboxes of some Russian officers of the DIMC were under control of the hacktivists for over 6 months, becoming not only the source of intelligence data, but also a conduit for a number of successful tactical-level special operations misleading the military leadership of the Russian Armed Forces. We will be able to disclose the details of some of these operations later. Today, we are publishing the data of one of the Russian officers of this Department, whose story seems to us quite telling.
RAZROEV A.D.
Razroev Alexander Denisovich, born 7/19/1996. Residing at: Moscow, Leninsky Prospekt 109/1, bldg 2, apt 237, telephone: +7 (936) 506 09 69.
The dump of Razroev’s hacked email contained lots of juicy details of the officer’s sexual life, but we are more interested in his professional activities, so we will pass on the sleaze. Moreover, hacktivists have already had their fair share of fun at his expense in a video, which appeared on their channel.
According to the copies of retrieved documents, Razroev graduated with honors from the Moscow Cadet Police Corps, and then from Bauman Moscow State Technical University, majoring in journalism, and then went on to become a professional military propagandist.
Judging by other materials from the dump, he cuts a rather cosmopolitan figure – he traveled to the Czech Republic (vacation photos geolocated to Prague); he has a decent command of English (there are messages about rating test enrollments). That is probably the reason why he was assigned to the international media operations.
In one of his photographs, there is a meeting between Russian and Azerbaijani officers. Judging by the portrait of President Aliyev on the wall, the picture could have been taken either in Azerbaijan or in one of the diplomatic missions of this country.
Razroev is responsible for monitoring the media coverage of the so-called “Special Military Operation”. Another important part of his duties is to send to Russian and foreign journalists “temniks” or specific instructions for particular media spin for reporting on the “success” of the Russian army at the front.
He also sends bits of information to his colleagues in the DIMC, but judging by the following screenshot, he is not very respected there.
His interlocutor, telling him not to be a pain in the ass, is Colonel Oleg Yushkov, head of the information and public relations, also serving at the DIMC. Yushkov is listed as a war criminal in the Myrotvorets Center database.
DIMC of the Russian MOD conducting PSYOPS via Facebook in France
Despite the official ban for the military personnel of the Russian Ministry of Defense to use Facebook, Razroev has an active account on this social network, accessing it through various VPN services and anonymizers (the dump contains relevant registration letters).
There is an advertising account connected to his Facebook account, which he used to post multiple sponsored publications in foreign languages. For example, he reported on advertising campaigns targeted at a French audience promoting an interview with the famous Russian propagandist Pyotr Tolstoy claiming that, “French soldiers will be returning from the war in Ukraine in coffins” (archive).
The date of the sponsored postings of the interview coincides with the Russian psychological operation on social media in France – the posting of coffins with the French tricolor in Paris. This was a kind of Russian response to Macron’s statements about possible sending of French military instructors to Ukraine. There also are other sponsored publications, strongly critical of French President Macron and of military aid to Ukraine, entirely in the spirit of Russian disinformation and propaganda narratives in Europe.
Some postings on the eve of the European Parliament elections called for voting for the political force of Marine Le Pen, a longtime admirer of Putin.
Do French citizens know that Russian officers from the Department of Information and Mass Communications of the Russian Ministry of Defense are trying to influence them through paid political advertising on Facebook? This question is probably more relevant for French security services.
Read more publications based on the data from Cyber Resistance hacktivists
- Hacking a Russian war criminal, deputy commander of the OMON of the Krasnoyarsk Krai
- Hacking a Russian war criminal, commander of 960th Assault Aviation Regiment
- Hacking Russian Z-volunteer Mikhail Luchin who ordered sex toys for $25,000 instead of drones for the Russian army.
- BagdasarovLeaks: hacking ex-member of the Russian State Duma Semyon Bagdasarov. Iranian gambit
- Hacked: Russian GRU officer wanted by the FBI, leader of the hacker group APT 28
- Hacking “James Bond”: medical service commander of 960th Assault Aviation Regiment doxed key personnel of his own unit
- Hacking Andrey Lugovoy, member of the Russian State Duma, First Deputy Head of the Security Committee
- Ukrainian hacktivists acquired first-ever photo of the GRU hacker unit commander wanted by the FBI for meddling in the U.S. election
- New evidence of collaboration of former Slovak Justice Minister Štefan Harabin with the Russian Federation
- Hacking Colonel Leonid Rusin, ex-commander of Russian AWACS unit
- Ukrainian hackers posted lists and documents of the Russian 72nd Motorized Rifle Brigade (TOP-10 files)
- Economic summit Russia–Africa 2023 databases hacked by Ukrainian hacktivists
- Hacking Lieutenant Colonel Kasatkin, Russian war criminal, head of Combat Training of A-50 early warning aircraft, military unit 41520
- BabakovLeaks: hacking Alexander Babakov, Deputy Chairman of the Russian State Duma
- Cuban mercenaries fighting against Ukraine on the Russian side – Ukrainian hacktivists collected evidence
- Hacked: Russian pilot reveals schemes of weapons supply from Iran, South Africa and Mali to Russia
- Hacking the Infocomms Department of the Russian Ministry of Defense. Katyusha and the secrets of General Konashenkov
- CYBINT investigation: how the Orlan-10 manufacturer imports parts bypassing sanctions
- Hacking assistant to vice-speaker of the Russian State Duma: agents of influence in Serbia and media campaigns in the EU
- Hacktivists uncovered new classified documents from STC, Russian manufacturer of Orlan-10 drones
- Hacking assistant to vice-speaker of the Russian State Duma: agents of influence in Serbia and media campaigns in the EU
- Data leakage from the Kremlin administration – what lies ahead for Russia after the elections?
- AlabugaLeaks. Part 2: Kaspersky Lab and neural networks for Russian military drones
- AlabugaLeaks. Part 3: Albatross, war, NVIDIA, Sony and Saito
- MedvedevLeaks: Blackmail by Dmitry ‘Nuclear Teddy’ Medvedev, Aggressive Russian Actions in the Arctic, and Rosatom
