Vladimir Putin faced embarrassment as one of his top propagandists inadvertently disclosed a secret military location by exposing a toilet sign. The blunder came from Vladimir Solovyov, a key TV propagandist for the Russian government, who mistakenly revealed the whereabouts of Russia’s elite drone unit, Rubicon HQ. The unmasked location at the Patriot Exhibition Centre near Moscow was identified through uncovered toilet signs in a report by Solovyov, leading to Hall D and part of Hall C.
The exposed site, previously targeted by Ukrainian drones, remains vulnerable to further attacks following this revealing mistake. Solovyov, a well-paid state TV propagandist, failed to conceal the crucial details about Rubicon in his report. Open-source intelligence (OSINT) researchers managed to identify the head of Rubicon, Colonel Sergei Budnikov, and the center’s focus on advanced unmanned technologies.
A Radio Liberty report highlighted how the toilet sign blunder divulged the secret location, emphasizing the oversight by Solovyov’s team in failing to obscure the restroom sign in publicly available videos. The revelation of Rubicon’s operations is a setback for Putin’s defense minister and the center’s involvement in drone development, training, and deployment on the front lines against Ukraine.
The report also credited Rubicon for its contributions to military operations, including recent advances in Donetsk region attributed to the center’s strategic capabilities. Researchers utilized images from a spring exhibition to pinpoint the location, while footage indicated previous Ukrainian attempts near the site.
Additionally, Solovyov faced criticism for recent inflammatory remarks towards British RAF pilots and spreading misinformation about France deploying nuclear missiles to Poland. Western warplanes have been dispatched to protect Poland in response to Russian drone incursions, a development within NATO’s defense measures.
Overall, the inadvertent exposure of Rubicon’s location serves as a cautionary tale of careless information disclosure in the realm of military intelligence.