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Russian soldiers posted commanders’ orders, drone stream passwords, and other classified information in a public Telegram chat for nearly a year

Source: Astra

Note: This article contains explicit language.

Russian servicemembers from the 143rd Guards Motor Rifle Regiment spent nearly a year posting personnel rosters, command orders, video conference links, and drone stream login credentials in a public Telegram chat — one they called “Blyadskaya Organizatsiya” (“Fucking Organization”). The Telegram news channel Astra drew attention to it.

Here is what Astra’s journalists found in the chat:

  • Links to Yandex Telemost video conferences for chiefs of staff, deputy commanders for political affairs, and command officers of the 143rd Regiment.
  • Personnel rosters, surveillance system tables, ammunition request forms, and tables with logins, passwords, and two-factor authentication keys for viewing drone streams, intended for unit commanders.
  • Code names for rivers in Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk regions for use in audio and video communications. The Verkhnya Tersa, for example, became the “Angara,” and the Mokri Yaly became the “Neva.”
  • Orders from the 5th Army headquarters. One mentioned losses among assault units due to inadequate supply and directed that automated carts be equipped with Starlink terminals.
  • Another order, which Astra describes as classified, concerned operational concealment on the Vremivka direction. Soldiers were ordered to create false military installations and simulate activity there to mislead Ukrainian intelligence.
  • A further document contained a command order to organize psychological operations against Ukrainian units, including the regular dropping of propaganda leaflets on Ukrainian Armed Forces positions. The chat also contained an order concerning intelligence activities on occupied Ukrainian territory.
  • The channel also regularly published plans for “radio games” — pre-prepared scripts of fictitious radio exchanges between units.

In late April 2026, one of the chat’s administrators noticed that outsiders had begun joining. “Who is being added, who are these people? What are you here for? That’s when the strange stories about leaked data and hacked accounts start. Security above all,” the chat’s owner wrote. The group stopped being updated from May 4.

After Astra’s publication, the Z-blogger “Ugolny iz doma” stated that an inspection team had come to the servicemembers. No further reports on the matter followed. Russia’s Defense Ministry hasn’t officially commented on either the leak or the statements about the inspection. The blogger called for the servicemembers not to be punished too harshly — just for them to “reach certain conclusions” — and to “put the knives to” Astra’s journalists.

One of the documents published in the chat

In other posts, “Ugolny iz doma” acknowledged that servicemembers’ use of Telegram was “a regrettable fact,” but argued that until a dedicated military messenger is created, it will have to be tolerated. The blogger also claimed that the chat’s participants had not published any classified information. “But these are my heroes: there is no better name for a headquarters chat than ‘Fucking Organization,’” he added.

At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story you’re reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.

If you find any errors in this translation, please contact us at reports@meduza.io.

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