Showing posts with label GRU. Show all posts
Showing posts with label GRU. Show all posts

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Why nobody has poked around Leningrad looking for osnaz's elephant cages?

Somebody wrote to me and tangentially made a sweeping generalization that Leningrad has no Krug installations, since it is on the periphery of what the Russians regard as the interesting part of radio communications of interest.

Here is the Шипун-210 Shipun Center (The Hisser). It still has the address of Military Detachment (в/ч) 41480, , Town of Gatchina, 188350

Here is a special Krug cage, with the outer antennas for low frequency work, and the inner ShP (ШП) antennas for the frequencies above 15 Mhz.



An astute observer has spotted up to a dozen military personnel arriving at the facility each morning. Every 2-3 days a military vehicle brings women in military dress uniforms arriving at the center.
It makes sense. A friend has connected the dots, and pointed out that the gaining command for the facility is none other than the famous Training Center of the Military Detachment (в/ч) 44085, 59°36'35"N 30°8'3"E This is the 193rd Engineering and Technical center of the Defense Maintenance and Repair Department of the Federal Special Construction Agency (!!!).
Check out these exotic sets of antennas and Russian antenna porn.

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

The real Bolshoi ballet of antennas

Moscow's secret antennasI am absolutely fascinated by Russians' obsession with radio snooping. That mean that Russia must be bristling with antennas.
Kitty corner from the Leningrad (Saint Petersburg) Metro's Line 3 terminal station Primorskaya, the there is an office building with this Swan Lake of antennas. The location is great - it looks out over the Gulf of Finland

Moscow's triangulation antennas
On Veshnyakovskaya st., bldg. 9, section 2 there is this farm.
You could understand the location of Leningrad tracking antennas. But what foreign traffic :-) is there to monitor in the heartland, in Moscow? Maybe Russians know better - in Butovo they do have one of many tracking stations for monitoring foreign radars(???).
The wind speed-looking device is not for measuring wind speed . The real name for it is HE314A1.

detail of a Russian triangulation antenna
It is BKAS (БКАС), active in the 150-3700 MHz range, vertical polarization.
My fdriends have also reported that the same type of natenna farm is found on the roof of the building at Bolshaya Olenya Street, 15A (55°48'30"N 37°41'26"E), which is the Radio Tracking Center co-located with the Central Design Institute of Communications No. 17, a. k. a. the military unit (В/ч) 25801.

This is most likely a R&S Doppler triangulation antenna, seen on the roof the both buildings is R&S PA055, that has 16 vertical concentric dipoles, and covers the 20-1000 Mhz range.

The second photo also shows this skirt-like antenna between the parabola and the umbrella-shaped antennas. The famous R&S HK014, for receiving omnidirectionally anything in the 80-1600 Mhz range:

Russian sigint antenna

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

A GRU dial radio is a typical part of a Soviet (Russian) secret cache

This telephone-dial spy radio found in caches planted by Soviet or modern-day GRU makes for slow but sure and secure communication.
This one is Р-353 "Proton" - the workhorse of GRU's osnaz or KGB's spetznaz. Contains classic Soviet-era tubes, like the famous GU (ГУ) 19. My friends tested the set and found it to produce signals of more than 50 watts. For those who are somewhat familiar with Soviet technology, this set is related to R-350 Orel (or Р-350 "Орел".)

The set is great for transmitting data, especially telegraphy. It contains the typical coder-decoder pair, and a magnetic tape drive. Data transmission is under 1000 baud due to the use of the telephone dial, which ensures precision. Also contained therein are flip-style CW Morse key, comprehensive chart of GRU's and KGB's favorite, alternative, SSB, and other frequencies, discreet night light, even a lanyard with an all-weather pencil. The power supply is ahead of its times (1960's !!!) and challenges modern laptops: it is of the smart type, capable of charging its battery from any outlet and voltage in the 80-240 VAC range, and has an external 12 VDC socket. These rigs are always found packed in thick, well closed plastic bags, and plenty of desiccant packets. They are always ready to transmit. Scary?

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Here's the list of secret Soviet (or contemporary Russian) supply dumps in United States

Drawn out from alcoholic ex-soviet diplomats, overheard by expert friends in St. Petersburg,(Russia), and one reserve U. S. Air Force officer in St. Petersburg, FL, or gathered by sources and methods that nobody in his right mind would reveal:

Upper Marlboro, MD: somewhere on Brown Station Rd, between John Rogers and Marlborough pike - Andrews AFB is only 5 miles away - unknown contents

Mitchellville, MD, between Enterprise Golf Course and I-50 - unspecified "emergency supplies," 7 miles from Washington, DC and Andrews AFB

Busch Gardens Europe, Williamsburg, VA - unspecified dead drop near "a hot dog concession stand"

Fort Marcy Park, Rivercrest, MD - coincidentally, the site of Vince Foster's suicide - unknown communication equipment, street-bought handguns.

Corner of Seabreeze and Surf Avenue, Brighton Beach, NYC - "emergency supplies"

Between Nixon Court, Shore Parkway and Ocean Parkway, Brooklyn, NYC, - unspecified "tactical" supplies

more to follow!

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

BAE secret document

I am still working on formatting and cleaning up the Gazprom employee list. While I am at it, the famed BAE secret information that has been pilfered out of the Basildon plant has is being circulated in Russia, and I have been sent a teaser sample of the info:

The signature is unmistakable.

I am not interested in divulging British secrets. The point of the post is to shed light on the extent, the depth and ease of GRU and FSB penetration into Western defense establishment.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Video identifies GRU generals

After a month long hiatus, I am back, posting, in the middle of a long and tedious project. What prompted me to post is an email from a distant acquaintance pointing out that several names on the list of GRU brass has appeared on this video.

See Ivanov describing what he believes is an ingenious security feature that refuses to let out a pass card that failed to lock an interior door, at 4:24 in the video.

My acquaintance says that these generals are identifiable in the video (some patronymics are not available or in question, as marked):

Васильков, Алексей Ф(?) -Vasilkov, Alexey F(?), visible at locations 3:19, 4:06,

Романенко, Леонид -Romanenko, Leonid, at 3:19, 4:06,

Гурьянов, Александр - Guryanov, Alexandr, at 5:13, 5:18, 6:14

Венгереш, Виталий С(?)- Vengeresh, Vitaly S(?), at 5:18, 6:14, 6:19,

Лыков, Роман - Lykov, Roman, at 6:14, 6:19

Гуща, Юрий Андреевич Gushcha, Yury Andreevich, at 6:14, 6:19

Головастик, Виктор Денисович - Golovastik, Victor Denisovich, at 6:14, 6:19

Долгих, А. П.(?) - Dolgikh, A. P.(?) location 6:54 in video (the lone general snacking in the background while Putin and Ivanov are picking out a cake)




Of course, your input is welcome - you can always leave comment as an anonymous.

compare with the list of FSB A-K, K-Z

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Russian list of US codewords, Putin's letter

In this post, new stuff that the bot fetched:
  • Bits and pieces of a Russain classified letter
  • Russian-compiled list of US codewords, for evryone's entertainment
The mysteriously delicious garble

I forgot about the adding to the post on the Russian Sigint station on Cuba, and sent out a bot with keywords in Russian (the list that was prepared by a good friend that speaks excellent Voronezh Russian (plus Chinese, Spanish, Tagalog, Persian, Arabic, Japanese, Hebrew [always a shadow of Mossad, isn't there?], German and Norwegian, has American citizenship, was born in a Moslem country and has a perfect Nordic look - all of which make his adventures fun and a great learning experience.

Thereupon I have opened the bot GUI, copy-pasted into the string window about 50(sic!) keywords in Russian, which equivalent to CODEWORD, SIGNATURE, PUTIN, IRAN, AGREEMENT, SECRET, GOLD, DOLLAR, RUBLE, USA, USN, etc (военно-морские силы, код, подпись, связь, валюта, соглашение, секретные)

The bot was out in the wild no more than 600 milliseconds after the 1.2 second it took to reach main(?) servers, when it returned (faster than previously, in the instances of the FSB Directory, or the first results) a harvest that included several raw TXT files, two of which contained live, classified content. First file name was IRANTRANS.DOC which, at the time, I had no patience to unbutton. I have copied unto here the only paragraph containing legible Russian material:

доКŃ�Ń�виŃ�оНŃ�и¶я~ ЃуК‚УщКСЕ Đ˝Đž, Ń�огОднŃ�пл.ВосстанияŃ�Мо ПОМнО Ń�ĐşВасильеостровская аСаўчЄ Ч КДПО ?1іы юЁ:Ń�Ń�, ГУФ Ń�Ń�Đž CD-Ń�окОŃ�ПетропольĐ´ĐľŃ� Он и в Đ�Ń�Ń�икоЮЫ‡ЩyзљЭIФ¤o-w C&'D-Ń�ДрезденокОхекаŃ�Đ´ĐľŃ�, аКЗакПО,Ленинакан,18П.З ]3Đ´Đž Ń�Ń�ОвнŃ� High End Они пОка Đ˝ĐГУКľ дОйŃ�аНиŃ�Ń�. Đ� Ń�ак, Marantz DR700 ПОМоŃ� ĐžŃ�комитетчиком десятогоŃ�Ńвосьмого�ĐľŃ�Ń�ĐМГИМО˛ĐťŃ�Ń�Ń� СапиŃ�Ń� Ń� аĐТЭЧ˝Đ°ĐťĐžĐłĐžĐ˛ИстихбаратОгО иНĐ�иŃ�Ń�ОвОгО вŃ�Ода (ОпŃОАПО ПЗКПП ĐşĐo.СРЕДНИЙ�иŃ�ĐľŃ�СпНГРУ žĐłĐž иНĐДальне-Восточный,округ 55 отряд 7 п.з кОаĐhtw-=2ş;038Ń�Đ¸ШЏщ†ы wг)аНŃ�нОгО)105-й на Ń�поŃ�иаНŃ�Đ˝Ń�Đľ ľŃ�Đş"ĐźŃ�СŃ�каНŃ�Đ˝Ń

the text also contained the only link next to a military unit designation ("ТЭЧ 979 иап") that pointed to this photo:

the link (http://scucin-avia.narod.ru/liotchiki/albom_kirichekvlad/albom_kirichekvladfiles/postrojenije-tech.jpg)

characters in purple are of questionable interest ("Marantz" could be intriguing, though: a modified CD recorder?)

пл.Восстания Vosstania Sq., a St. Peterssburg subway station 1
Васильеостровская Vasilieostrovskaya, a St. Petersburg subway station 2
КДПО a KGB/FSB uniut associated with border patrol
Петрополь according to my source - a bar near station 2 frequented by the SpB University's foreign language and middle east studies students
Дрезден Dresden - Putin's foreign service assignment?
КЗакПО,Ленинакан,18П.З a border guard outpost in Armenia
ГУК undetermined acronym
комитетчиком десятого...восьмого "KGB (associate from the) 10th...8th (directorate)"
10th directorate is uncertain, thought the 8th was the crypto and communications department
МГИМО the prominent Moscow State Foreign Relations Insitute
ТЭЧ a Technical Management Unit
Истихбарат Istihbarat, the Libyan Security Agency
ОАПО ПЗКПП ...o.СРЕДНИЙ a border outpost near Srednyy (no time to look up)
СпНГРУ a GRU diplomatic/intelligence/DATT unit
Дальне-Восточный,округ 55 отряд 7 п.з a border guard unit ID in the Russian Far East
105-й a KGB, then FSB or GRU unit associated with DATT service

What is this file? What kind of text is this? A garbled crypto, innocently de-garbled by the bot?
Someone said that it is a garbled Cyrillic embedded into Polish. You can only guess. I will have more definite analysis of this material in later posts.

Russian-compiled list of US codewords

The second source's file name is FLOTKODOVO.doc, and it contains many of the codwords in ordiginal English.

After consulting with a friend who is in USN Reserves, I realized that the list is that of US Naval and Coast Guard codewords used by a US Joint Task Force (Four?) in the Caribbean-Atlantic. The Russians, or Russkies, as I like calling them critters on this blog, no offense intended ( it is my Southern charm background shinin' through), must have done a good homework of radio monitoring and put together this rather interesting compilation. Due to translation and formatting, it is non-alphabetical.

The Russian understanding of the meaning was very much off, for example, they could not know that BILLY BUD meant a situation where sexual crime was committed aboard a searchable vessel. A Russian listener associated it almost literally to a billy club ("битой" - with a baseball bat ?!) I s that how they opearate: when in doubt -fudge it?

Many of these were easy for the Russian to know/figure out/ distill out of Google, but there are things like BILLY BUD, where I provide the Russian interpretation and the real meaning used by the US:

RESISTOR сопротивление, resistance - no clue, actually: a non-cooperative boater
CAPACITOR
конденсатор, capacitor - really: a vessel with a probable cause for search
DIODE
диод, diode - really: Dead in Water, drifting vessel, no way on
COIL
катушка, coild, really: suspicious
TRANSISTOR -really: passenger vessel
POWER SUPPLY - no clue, really a vessel with contraband
9-SHOT -
неизвестный p. (unknown meaning, no clue) really:port turn
MONITOR
неизвестный p. really US Coast Guard
OREO Russians have no clue, but it is P3 Orion
I/O no clue, but it is: INS matter
FUSE no clue, US Customs
BUMP "push", no clue, really: hail someone by a click of an non-secure radio
UTL no clue, but: unable to locate
LL no clue, land line
CAR-LEFT , no clue, - left sideband of CB, non-obvious way of communicating
SOS no clue, but, US Secreatry of State
NCIC "Mational Crime Computer System" almost right: National Crime Information Center
PCW Russian got it right, but it means more: a violation of Pemit to Carry Concealed weapons
PSTIM no clue, possession of stimulants
PDOWN no clue, possession of donwers,
UILT no clue, under influence of liquor or THC
SCARAB Russian:"designer boat", really an innocent boat running scared
CIGARETTE Russian: "designer boat", really a guilty, arrestable boat running away
POPEYE, no clue, but it is am exerienced/retired sailor/boater
BUG no clue, it is an illegal immigrant/stowaway/INS problem
RAM no clue, cargo hold
ROM no clue, radio shack, radio report
C-NOTE Russians: $100, really: 100 gallons. tons
K - Russians: 1000, almost right - 1000 tons, gallons
ANALOG -no clue, really a bulk carrier
DIGITAL - no clue, really a container ship
CYCLE - no clue, really a round trip
HIGHWAY -no clue, really a plotted course
ZIGZAG - Russians: zigzagging course. Almost there: suspicious, avoidance course
BLUE - no clue, US Coast Guard
BLACK no clue, USN
8-BALL - Russians: captured, confiscated. Not exactly: a shootable target
BEERFRAME - no clue, really a confiscation and arrests
PHONE - no clue, really a backtalking subject
CAPTOR - Russians" captive torpedo; really an ex-captain, -military, smart attitude
CAPITAL - no clue, really a captain's personal cash
XPIG -Russians, a very creative guess: an ex-policeman; really a ship's piggy bank
FLOYD no clue, Florida
GEORGE - no clue, really Georgia
SCOTT -no clue, SC
NICK -no clue, really NC
VIRGIL - no clue, really VA
DALE - no clue, really DE
MARLIN - no clue, really MD
FIL - no clue, really PA
NUGENT - no clue (funny!) really NJ
ROSIE - no clue, really: Roosevelt Roads
KAY -no clue, really Key West
MAY -Russians: Mayport Naval Base; really: Miami
MOVIE - no clue, really Hollywood, FL
ESTEE no clue, really Ft. Lauderdale (think cosmetics)
WINNIEPEG - no clue (?) West Palm Beach
CHAPPA-Q no clue (and no chance -
editor) Palm Beach (think Kennedy)
VR no clue, Vero Beach
CAPE COD - Russians went for the obvious, but is is Cape Canaveral (think Kennedy)
INDY - no clue - Daytona
MAYNOT - no clue, though it is Jacksonville Mayport NAS
COKE -no clue, really: Pensacola
TSAR - no clue, though they could try: CZAR is St. Petersburg FL
GITMO -Russians git right, it's a no brainer, Guantanamo
AT&T -no clue, it is US BATF
MOUSE - no clue, it stands for a radar report
MODEM -no clue: a secure comm channel
ROTA -US NAS Rota, Spain
PHIBRON -Russians got it right: USN amphibious Squadron
DATT -Russians correct: defense attache system
SIG -Russians went literal: "signal", whereas it is USN NAS Sigonella
AISSO - Russians Googled it: Automated Informations Systems Security officer
WIZZO -no clue: weapons systems officer
TACO - no clue, though they listened to S-3, P-3 talk- it is a tactical air combat coordinator


You never know what these bots would turn up next.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Russians reactivating their SIGINT sites?- another secret list

I just played with the idea of sending out our spybot again, just for the heck of it. It came back with this wild and cool, NSA-grade material. Some of the bot returns is in a confusing encoding that would not paste here intact. I translated wherever I could, with the help of our good old military adviser. This center does not seem to be on the list, nor this radar site is associated with anything herebelow.

The bot reports of GRU units seem to be poised for activation, relocation or inventory.

The (!) GUDOK (ГУДОК), 215- or (в/ч) 34608 th regiment
309 ЦРПУ ОСНАЗ (the central radio transmitting center)
250 ОРТП ОСНАЗ ГСВГ г. Штендаль (the OSNAZ unit in the city of Stendahl)
GRU's БП630 and the 16th KGB directorate (управления КГБ). Some of our specialists says this is not ОсНаз, but a special СС service (специальная служба).
The following regiment numbers:

в/ч 51952 (in Nerastannoye, near Moscow, Chekhov region - Нерастанное, Московская обл., Чеховский р-н)

В/ч 61519 in Novosibirsk region, Новосибирск обл.

в/ч 61615 in Rustavi (Georgia?)Рустави (Гардабани)

в/ч 61330 Odessa, Ukraine г. Одесса, п.Акаржа/ Аккарже, and Ovidiopol (Овидиополь-2)

в/ч 61608 Tzaritzino, (Царицыно)


The data groups below is a result of the bot having converted a table to text, a la MS Windows.
The order of the data - the number of the communication center, the name of the communication center, the locale, military outpost/regiment/detachment number, the channels (ТЛГ/ЗАС/Титан)/frequencies, and activity notes.

215 GUDOK, Moscow reg., Klimovsk, 34608; 210,230,255,285,280 (training only), 220, 200, 205, 265, 260, 245;
210 SHIPUN, Petersburg reg., Gatchina, Tayvorovo, 41480; 215, 230,255
230 GRANULATZIA, Murmansk reg., Kildinstroy, 34630 215,255,210
255 JUMPER, Komi, Vorkuta, 34575; 215,210,285
285 TELEGA, Krasnoyarsk reg., Tiksi, 14145; 215, 255, 240, 220
280 NATRIT, Chukotka, Beringovsky, 51595; Channel for training, alternatively for the use by ZVEZDA
220 NAVESKA, Khabarovsk reg., Sergeyevka, 48260; 215, 240, 285
200 SPOLOKH, ex-NARCOTIC,Irkutsk reg., Oyek, 51870; 215, 220, 205, 240
205 GEOTHERMIA, Kazakhstan, Alma-Ata reg., Shengeldy, 48253 (86621); 215,200. 265
265 BEDRENNYY, Turkmenia, Ashkhabad reg., Geok-Tepe, 34639; 215,260,205
260 RAVNYY, Georgia, Gardebani, Kajory, 51868; 215, 265, 245,
245 PRIBORKA, Ukraine, Odessa, 42028; 215, 260, 210,
408 LAYBA, (ех LASTIC), Ryazan reg., Spassk-Ryazansky, 02565 Reserved for deployment during maneuvers at the range
240 GAZOMETR, Yakutia, 71300; 220-200-205
??? ARCHA., Kaluga reg., Tarus, 34080; Krug facility. Classified
270 BARCA, Cuba, Lourdes POBox 247, 54234;
??? SHATROVYY, Azerbayjan, Akstafa, ZVEZDA-controlled
??? TREZUBETZ, Moscow reg., Shchelkovo, 51428 The ZVEZDA center
??? ??? Petersburg reg., Pavlovsk, 86622 OSNAZ training untis
AVRORA (Аврора), Moscow, The УС ГРУ ГШ Center
OASIS, Kaluga, Echelon 2, KOMETA air defense-controlled

more of the related data de-tabulated, seems to indicate the current, pre-activation status of some of the above and other installations:

47 ОРПУ Irkutsk Оёк) в/ч 51870 - передан в "Звезду"
50-й ОРПУ (Тикси-1 Морская,) в/ч 14145 "Телега"
99-й ОРПУ (Якутск)
309-й ЦРПУ ОБКЗ (Климовск Школьная,50 в/г «Гривна») в/ч 34608 "Гудок" сф 51г (51-73гг в/ч 71513 )
789-й ОРПУ (Спасск-Рязанский Войкова,2 + п.Панино - полигон) в/ч 02565 "Ластик" сф 42г 811-й ОРПУ (Мурманск п.Кильдинстрой Разина,8) в/ч 34630
902-й ОРПУ (п.Беринговский) - передан в "Звезду"
-й ОРПУ (Дисдорф, ГДР) в/ч 33947 "Горка" - расформирован
-й ОРПУ в/ч 34635 "Грануляция"
-й ОРПУ (Гатчина п.Тайворово) в/ч 41480 -"Звезда"
-й ОРПУ (Одесса п.Верхний Дальник) в/ч 42028 "Приборка" - передан в СБУ Украины
-й ОРПУ (Торенс, Куба) в/ч 54234 "Тростник" - выведен в Гатчину, оперативно вх. в состав "Звезда"
-й ОРПУ "Охрана"
-й ОРПУ "Оазис"
-й ОРПУ (Воркута) "Джемпер"
-й ОРПУ (Ашхабад п.Геок-Тепе) - расформирован
-й ОРПУ (Алма-Ата п.Талгар) - передан КЗ
-й ОРПУ (ГДР) "Низина" -
-й ОРПУ (ГДР) "Марион" -
-й ОРПУ (Монголия) "Горизонт" - в состав "Звезда"
-й ОРПУ (Камрань, Вьетнам) "Восток" - принадлежал ВМФ,
-й ОРПУ (Рангун, Бирма) " " - "Звезда", расформирован
101-й уч.ОРТП ОсНаз (Павловск Обороны,1) в/ч 86622 расф 98г

***
and this bonus is the Russkies' record of having intercepted a radio transmissions from a B-52 returning from the Max 2007 airshow:
28.08.07., 6761 кГц ,
18:36 Tuff 01 -> Quid 82 "I'm looking contact with Quid 80"
18:40 Tuff 01 -> Quid 80 "Arsp. time 17:00z, altitude 280, frequency 264,125"
11175 кГц
18:50 Tuff 01 -> Croughton "Dep.: Moscow 13:30z, ETA: Barksdale 02:30z"

***
well, what do you say? I am not that impressed... because I am jaded. Putin asleep at the wheel? Would you like the bot to get his credit card numbers, or his Football briefcase combination? Does a Yankee White carry this for him? Inquiring minds want to know.