Conflict Intelligence Team
Abbreviation
  • CIT
  • CITeam
Formation2014 (2014)
FounderRuslan Leviev
TypeNGO
Focusactivities of the Russian Armed Forces
Headquarters
Methods
FieldsWar journalism
Official languages
  • Russian
  • English
Websitenotes.citeam.org
Formerly called
War in Ukraine (WiU)

The Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT) is an independent investigative organisation originating from Russia[1] that conducts an open-source investigation of events taking place during armed conflicts,[2] in particular, the actions of Russian troops in Ukraine, Syria, Libya and Central African Republic.[3] Together with Bellingcat and InformNapalm, it is one of the largest such groups that emerged during the Russo-Ukrainian War.[4]

History

The group was founded by Ruslan Leviev, a programmer from Surgut (Russia). According to him, in 2011 he noticed massive fraud in the elections to the State Duma, after which he joined actions of the Russian opposition and created a company performing online broadcasts of various actions, in particular, Euromaidan. After the annexation of Crimea by Russia and the start of the war in Donbas, Leviev began to cover and investigate the events in these conflicts, including participation of the Russian military in them.[5][6] At first, his group was called War in Ukraine (WiU), and in September 2015, after the start of Russian military intervention in Syria, it changed its name to the current one. In comparison to the other similar groups, CIT is distinguished by small number of participants (6 people) and the fact that they are all citizens of Russia.[4] The names of most members of the group are kept in secret for security reasons.[7]

Until 2022, the group operated mainly in Russia and faced threats that included two attempts to initiate a criminal case against Leviev, a summons to the military prosecutor's office, an attack by an unknown person, phone calls with death threats, and a hacker attack by the CyberBerkut group.[4][5][3][8]

On March 5, 2022, CIT announced that it had left Russia in order to be able to continue working.[9] In May, Leviev was charged in exile for Violating the March 'fake news' law, which was criticized by the Committee to Protect Journalists.[10]

In August 2023 the Russian government declared the group an “undesirable organisation”, criminalising its work to document and investigate armed conflicts involving Russian forces.[11]

Activity

The group collaborates with major global media that publish its investigations, including the BBC, Reuters, Sky News and Der Spiegel.[4]

CIT has carried out a number of internationally recognized investigations into the presence and activities of Russian troops in Syria and Ukraine, in particular the deaths of Russian soldiers in these countries and Russia's use of cluster munition in Syria.[4] Clear evidence of its use (denied by the Russian authorities) was found in photos and videos from Russian state media.[4] By examining photographs and maps, the CIT also disproved the official Russian thesis that Russian troops in Syria did not participate in ground battles.[12]

Together with Bellingcat, the group studied the circumstances of the Boeing 777 shoot-down in the Donetsk region in 2014.[13][14]

CIT clarified the biography details of the suspects in the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in 2018,[15] and in 2020 investigated the murder of Alexander Taraikovsky, a participant in Belarusian protests.[16]

The group informed in detail about Russia's preparations for invasion of Ukraine in 2022.[9]

References

  1. ↑ Kaganskikh, Andrey (2022-02-18). "Videos of Russian military on the move spread on TikTok". Al Jazeera. Moscow. Retrieved 2022-03-14.
  2. ↑ "Conflict Intelligence Team" (in Russian). Deutsche Welle. 2022-02-17. Archived from the original on 2021-11-25. Retrieved 2022-03-11.
  3. 1 2 "В Москве напали на основателя расследовательской группы Conflict Intelligence Team" (in Russian). Deutsche Welle. 2019-11-27. Archived from the original on 2019-11-28.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Toler A. (2018). "Crowdsourced and Patriotic Digital Forensics in the Ukrainian Conflict". In O. Hahn, F. Stalph (ed.). Digital Investigative Journalism. Data, Visual Analytics and Innovative Methodologies in International Reporting. Springer Nature Switzerland. pp. 205–208. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-97283-1_19. ISBN 978-3-319-97283-1.
  5. 1 2 "Солдаты говорят, что им осточертела ложь". Радио Свобода. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 2016-05-28. Archived from the original on 2022-03-12.
  6. ↑ "Интернет-расследователь Руслан Левиев: "В любой момент меня могут посадить"" (in Russian). ТВ2. 2016-05-26. Archived from the original on 2020-10-28.
  7. ↑ Пономарёва, Аля (2015-09-27). "Новосирия: Путин дал приказ?". Радио Свобода (in Russian). Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Archived from the original on 2016-10-12.
  8. ↑ "Russian investigative reporter says he was attacked in Moscow". Reuters. 2019-11-27. Archived from the original on 2022-03-12.
  9. 1 2 Свобода, Радіо (2022-03-06). "Команда Conflict Intelligence Team закрила офіс у Москві і евакуювала персонал із Росії – Левієв". Радіо Свобода (in Ukrainian). Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Archived from the original on 2022-03-09.
  10. ↑ "Two exiled Russian journalists charged for disseminating 'fake' news on war in Ukraine". Committee to Protect Journalists. 2022-05-24. Retrieved 2022-06-26.
  11. ↑ Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 534
  12. ↑ Fainberg S. (2017). Russian Spetsnaz, Contractors and Volunteers in the Syrian Conflict (PDF). Institut français des relations internationales. p. 12. ISBN 978-2-36567-782-0. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 February 2022.
  13. ↑ "'In The Convoy With The Buk': An Open-Source Investigator Follows The MH17 Trial". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 2021-06-11. Archived from the original on 2022-03-10.
  14. ↑ "Новый доклад Bellingcat по MH17: доставка "Бука" и отставной офицер РФ" (in Russian). Focus. 2017-03-03. Archived from the original on 2022-02-24.
  15. ↑ "Британская полиция обвинила третьего россиянина в отравлении Скрипалей" (in Russian). Deutsche Welle. 2021-09-21. Archived from the original on 2021-11-29.
  16. ↑ ""Стечение обстоятельств". Как власти Беларуси закрывают дела и суды о гибели людей на протестах". BBC News Русская Служба (in Russian). BBC. 2021-02-19. Archived from the original on 2022-03-11.
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