Russian MP threatens open-source intelligence analysts with treason charges

NATO countries are recruiting “defectors” to help Ukraine, Vasily Piskaryov has said

People who use open-source intelligence (OSINT) to harm Russia could be charged with treason, Vasily Piskaryov, a senior member of the State Duma, said on Tuesday.

OSINT analysts specialize in gathering information from open sources such as Google Maps, social media accounts, tracking websites, and publicly accessible databases. Since the mid-2010s, journalists and NGOs have increasingly used OSINT methods to monitor armed conflicts.

Piskaryov, the chair of the parliamentary commission tasked with countering foreign meddling, said “NATO officials” are recruiting Russians living abroad to track “the activities of our troops and the data on the bypassing of anti-Russian sanctions.”

Western countries intend to help the Ukrainian military fight Russia and “generate new sanctions using defectors who still have contacts in their homeland,” the lawmaker added.

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During the ongoing conflict, “such actions could be qualified as treason,” Piskaryov said.

Earlier this month, the State Duma passed a series of laws criminalizing calls to impose sanctions on Russia for “personal gain,” and increasing the punishment for spreading false information about Russian troops.

“Those who fled abroad like cowards and continue to cause harm to our country by funding the Ukrainian Nazis, attempting to discredit the Russian Army and advocating for criminal actions against the Russian Federation, must understand that they will be held accountable. They will not escape justice,” State Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said.

In 2023, Russia banned the Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT), an NGO known for monitoring the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria. The Prosecutor General’s Office described it as “a group of pseudo-journalists” working to “discredit” the Russian Army.

In January, CIT co-founder Ruslan Leviev, who resides in the US, confirmed on his YouTube channel that the organization has been funded through grants distributed by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).