Putin The Fair-Haired Poster Boy and The American Psyche

Half the world hates him. It is easy to hate him. But as the saying goes, too much contempt brings familiarity :-)
Putin for U. S. President - I endorse!

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�, Đ°КЗакПО,Ленинакан,18П.З ]3Đ´Đž Ń�Ń�ОвнŃ� High End Они пОка Đ˝ĐГУКľ дОйŃ�аНиŃ�Ń�. Đ� Ń�Đ°Đş, Marantz DR700 ПОМоŃ� ĐžŃ�комитетчиком десятогоŃ�Ńвосьмого�ĐľŃ�Ń�ĐМГИМО˛ĐťŃ�Ń�Ń� СапиŃ�Ń� Ń� Đ°ĐТЭЧ˝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)Đ°ĐťŃ�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.

Recce of French Embassy

The joke from a late-night show that seems to be appropriate for this post - "an ad on Ebay: French rifle, never fired, dropped once."

Most people don't think much about what the French are up to, but they are not behind the leading militaries of the world, and the same is true in the sense of their electronic warfare and intelligence.

Our man in Moscow (not the one that contributed here, nor here)- I know it sounds corny - has been lucky to gain a vantage point from where he succeeded to take a digital look at the French Embassy in Moscow. Don't ever underestimate the French.


You would have thought that this group is just a regular planar spike, but the upturned direction of the whips and the Rode & Shwarz HF dipole with an attenuator testify to its unexpected use.


this is a look from a yet different (I could only wonder) vantage point:

and these thistle whips - according to additional sources, whatever you may call these spikey finials, they have been known to radiate the most exotically encrypted traffic (some of which, unbuttoned, we will publish soon) you could pick up in this city. Note the magnetic antenna to the right of the R & S rig:



and here the gentlemen from France (remember Saturday Night Live's Coneheads? "We're from France!") have installed what might look like an average TV antenna, except - remember not to underestimate the French! - the rig and the microwave minisaucer further to the right are all aimed at the Russian Defense Ministry building.



beside being an average rooftop, they surely had to have the modest suite of satellite dishes.

and this standalone dish is accompanied by an interesting and shy Yagi-esque rig and a satcom disguised as a barstool:


as a collateral lesson from this recce exercise we have learned to appreciate the French taste for stylish rooftop radio shacks.

Next posts:
Centerfolds of KGB and other communication centers in Byelorussia, the land where communism never died
The candid shots of Russian listening outpost on Cuba, the site which has never ceased to operate.

Airport, Mooonscape and Diplograms

In this post:

PICTURESQUE RECCE EXERCISE
SLANT IMAGERY OF RUSSIA'S NOVA TERRA
DIPLOMATIC TELEGRAM ANALYSIS

We have been away, but not idle. We have met a bunch of interesting people, one of them is a former Tu-154 pilot who now flies for a discount airline. We call him Captain Alex, and he likes to take pictures in flight, from his pilot's seat. Here are some of the pictures that also serve us a breathtaking material for recce exercise.

Vnukovo Int'l Airport this winter.
The newly built, partially underground railroad spur serving the passenger terminal is visible to a knowledgeable analyst. The Russkies feel the bulge in the petrowallets, hence they feel that they can built some more megalomaniac projects to the airport.

Captain Alex took the picture and self-censored himself at that. The famous 06-24 runway is cut off below the photograph, because it serves the Government Terminal. Captain Alexey, however, was flying high and fast when he took the pictures below:



We can see the Government Terminal as the grey, black and brightly lit rectangular area towards the far (24) end of the 06-24 runway, below the T-juntion of the highways.

SLANT IMAGERY OF RUSSIA'S NOVA TERRA

Novaya Zemlya, that is. A high-level official who is actually in charge of declassifying DOD materials, has released the following imagery on condition that no other details would be divulged. The material has been declassified, but still has the stuck-in-limbo FOUO (for offficial use inly) markings.
Thus a special recognaissance platform that still remains classified is capable of obtaining imagery at extreme slant angles. That means the method is equivalent to a person shooting landscape phtographs from the ground level. Here is an image inside Severnyy, a Russian outpost on the lunar landscape ravaged by catastrophic nuclear explosions. The angles are marked on satellite map for visualizing the orientation of elements in the photograph.

What are these Russkies up to nowadays? What goof-ups can they suprise us with over there?


DIPLOMATIC TELEGRAM ANALYSIS

A certain someone sent in this telegram, fully confinced that it is a Russian code-word or other type of code text.

It is sufficient to have studied comparative analysis of Slavic languages to spot Bulgarian suffixed articles ( -te, -to) at the end of the nouns. As far as we know, no other Slavic country uses Latin X to represent the "sh" sound. Our contributor is an avid ham radio operator who claims this was a RTTY message sent in an easily decodable diplomatic format. Note the year. We have some really recent material, but are being very careful with what we release.

Good luck to us all, and happy new moon month.