22 votes

Lost in translation: How Russia’s new elite hit squad was compromised by an idiotic lapse in tradecraft

Posted by riQQ
Tags: politics, russia, geopolitics, intelligence services, google.translate, usa, investigation, author.christo grozev, author.roman dobrokhotov, author.michael weiss, author.fidelius schmid, author.nikolai antoniadis, source.theins press, long read
https://theins.press/en/inv/290235

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Authors
Christo Grozev
Published
Mar 13 2026
Word count
5687 words

4 comments

  1. riQQ
    Link

    Center 795, which emerged after the start of Russia's full-scale war in Ukraine and comprises elite units from the GRU and FSB, was established as a top-secret and fully autonomous entity designed to carry out the most critical operations, ranging from military missions in Ukraine to political assassinations and abductions abroad. The Insider has managed to identify all of the center’s key leaders and sponsors, determine its location, and pinpoint its main areas of activity. One of its officers has already been arrested in Colombia on charges of organizing the kidnapping of multiple regime opponents. He was caught because he handled an agent using Google Translate.

    15 votes
  2. [3]
    ebonGavia
    Link
    Apologies for the late reply. Anyone know what this source is? It's a .press TLD obviously, and there are links in the sidebar to a .ru page called "The Fakesperts" with a bunch of people I don't...

    Apologies for the late reply. Anyone know what this source is? It's a .press TLD obviously, and there are links in the sidebar to a .ru page called "The Fakesperts" with a bunch of people I don't recognize on it.

    The actual article seemed to be well-researched and -written, so I appreciated that.

    3 votes
    1. cfabbro
      (edited )
      Link Parent
      The Insider is pretty well known in OSINT circles and is considered quite reputable. They have worked alongside Bellingcat on numerous investigations, including the groundbreaking Skripal...

      The Insider is pretty well known in OSINT circles and is considered quite reputable. They have worked alongside Bellingcat on numerous investigations, including the groundbreaking Skripal poisoning investigation for which they both won a European Press Prize. They've also worked with CNN, Der Spiegel, BBC and a bunch of other major news orgs on investigations involving Russia too.

      p.s. The Fakesperts site is a list of "fake experts" that have been spreading Kremlin-friendly disinformation in various Western countries. If you click on the listed people's portraits it goes into more detail about each.

      11 votes
    2. riQQ
      Link Parent
      Just as additional information: what I checked when I posted the article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Insider_(website), sadly doesn't link to the https://theins.press domain, only to...

      Just as additional information: what I checked when I posted the article:

      4 votes