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Husband and wife outed as GRU spies aiding bombings and poisonings across Europe

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Re: Husband and wife outed as GRU spies aiding bombings and poisonings across Europe

#371

Post by dralley »

eastbound wrote: post #221
cryptonector wrote: post #203

> Travel and border crossing data, recently made available thanks to an avalanche of terabytes leaked from Russian government databases, showed that Elena Šapošnikova is in possession of a secret Russian passport. Critically, her nine-digit passport number is part of a numerical range reserved exclusively for members of Unit 29155, differing from those of her colleagues only by its last two digits. Šapošnikova’s is 6…

Yes: “Great, you’re our spy now. Keep it secret. Also, please always carry on you this piece of Russian evidence with serial numbers adjacent to all our other moles , because otherwise our own border patrol may reject you on entry with your Czech passport, I decided.” So they’re telling us that Russia is that bad at spying. But the first commercial supersonic jet was the Tupolev 144, not the Concord.

The Tupolev 144 was famous for being an utter piece of shit, rushed for the propaganda value of being "first", put into service with half the flight testing as Concorde, and crashing multiple times with not that many flights on it's record

Re: Husband and wife outed as GRU spies aiding bombings and poisonings across Europe

#372

Post by Marsymars »

stronglikedan wrote: post #243
garyrob wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I want to give some advice: Don't judge it by its first few episodes. When I first checked it out, the basic setup seemed rather inane and I stopped watching. Then, a couple years later, I needed something to watch during long exercise sessions and I checked it out again. It was getting much more interesting by the end of the first season. And every season got better and richer. By the very end, I experienced it as a…

Thanks. I have a 3 episode rule. If I'm not into it by the end of the 3rd episode, I don't continue. I'll give this one another shot.

I guess, but there are some all-time great series with relatively weak first seasons, e.g. Halt and Catch Fire and The Leftovers.

Re: Husband and wife outed as GRU spies aiding bombings and poisonings across Europe

#373

Post by kmeisthax »

brnt wrote: post #231
The_Colonel wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess smart people visit porn sites when they want to watch some. For me it's just boring filler and I skip them.

> I guess smart people visit porn sites I chuckled and thank you for the compliment! Also: I agree. It's pretty much always a tedium. Now, American series almost always suffer from that: not just the sex scenes are used as filler, and could be replaced with a line or two suggesting the events if relevant. House of Cards is my go to example: just take the British original for how you can condense the story by a factor…

> Putting it that way: it'd be hilarious if a compression format would work this way.

https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-3045

Re: Husband and wife outed as GRU spies aiding bombings and poisonings across Europe

#374

Post by s1artibartfast »

lolinder wrote: post #363
martinky24 wrote: post #329

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Spies often work for free Do you have a reputable source for that?

I think the distinction they're drawing is that "spies" are often just people who hand over information to foreign states because that's where their sympathies lie, whereas "agents" are employees of an intelligence agency. That said, I don't think I've actually seen this distinction made before, and I'd love to hear citations for all the assertions that OP so confidently makes.

I think this role is better captured by the title informant: someone who passes information. They are not undercover, but are doing something secretly

Re: Husband and wife outed as GRU spies aiding bombings and poisonings across Europe

#375

Post by kmeisthax »

surfingdino wrote: post #251
mandevil wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While it is probably a waste of resources, dictatorships are famous for having wasteful duplicated efforts: dictators need their people to constantly be competing with each other, and to split favor so that no one ever becomes strong enough to pose a threat to the Big Man himself. That is the whole reason for the GRU-KGB split in the first place!

Suvorov wrote about the Soviet practice of making GRU and KGB compete for the same goals to ensure they get the best intelligence.

How very capitalist of them.

Re: Husband and wife outed as GRU spies aiding bombings and poisonings across Europe

#376

Post by a57721 »

chmod775 wrote: post #353
captn3m0 wrote: post #52

> In both cases, she used sophisticated tradecraft that sought to leave no trace in databases accessible to European authorities. For instance, she booked her trips and bought her plane tickets using her Czech passport, registering only that nationality with the Greek airline. But upon crossing the Russian border, Šapošnikova used her secret Russian passport, thus bypassing the need to obtain a Russian visa issued to…

>Wouldn't the Greek airline (and Greek exit immigration control) check for a valid Russian visa for a Czech passport? There's no exit stamp for EU citizens leaving the EU. Also nobody cares whether you actually have a valid visa for the place you're going. It's not their responsibility. Maybe somewhere in some paperwork they make you say that you do and nominally they're supposed to check it, but I'm not sure anyone…

If a passenger is denied entry at the destination, the airline is normally responsible for returning the passenger. This is why they care.

Re: Husband and wife outed as GRU spies aiding bombings and poisonings across Europe

#377

Post by danmur »

fennecbutt wrote: post #344
dylan604 wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, when you get caught and are being interrogated for crimes against the state, you go right ahead and provide your new friends access to those accounts. Edit: Nothing you wrote contradicts anything I said. Your quote proves my statement. They had other sources of income than their cover provided, and the investigators used that to zero in them.

Should probably close those tags properly

Now everything from here on out is facepalm, argh

Re: Husband and wife outed as GRU spies aiding bombings and poisonings across Europe

#379

Post by arduanika »

wcunning wrote: post #246
immibis wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whole reason Swiss has a banking reputation is that it didn't do KYC. At all.

Up until the war on terror and the US no longer accepting that excuse. They do extensive KYC now.

GP's tenses are both correct. It has that reputation today, as a lingering effect of how it didn't pry historically. The industry is hanging on for the time being, probably thanks to network/incumbent effects, inertia, and some limited observance of the old ways, for clients whose countries will allow it.

Re: Husband and wife outed as GRU spies aiding bombings and poisonings across Europe

#380

Post by mayd »

foobarian wrote: post #138
vlovich123 wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Keri Russell a lightweight? I’m curious what gave you that impression as I’ve always thought of her as an excellent actress. Probably missing out on The Diplomat too if you like political intrigue at all.

Well on that topic, the French series "The Bureau" [1] was fantastic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bureau_(TV_series)

A.k.a. "Le bureau des légendes": criminally underrated. Was available to view in Australia on SBS On Demand, where I serendipitously encountered it. It is right up there with the best of John LeCarré's film and television adaptations: "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy", "Smiley's People", "The Little Drummer Girl", etc.
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