Something you always wanted to know about investigative journalism and it's role in Ukrainian conflict. Interview with Aric Toler, contributor at bellingcat.com.

1. About the Projects
We have many projects, but I will mention the most
remarkable. The biggest one, which people must know
is on MH17 Buk. Also we’ve done two big reports – on
artillery strikes mostly in Rostov oblast, around Gukovo
and in the 20 km area. Just on Thursday we produced a
new report on artillery strikes mostly around the city of
Maksimov in Russia during the Novoazovs’k Offensive of
August 2014. We’ve done a lot of individual reports on
Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine. Also we’ve led a
really large project tracking Russian vehicles both on
Russia-Ukraine border and later when they appeared in
Ukraine. Of course we work with other regions. For
example we did a lot of work on Syrian chemical
weapons, like the sarin attack in Ghouta. Also we
researched Russian airstrikes in Syria, geolocation of key
events and groups, for example, locations of some
Tunisian rebels in Raqqa..
Verification process
We were doing a report on the origin of artillery attacks
on Ukrainian armed forces positioned near the Russian-
Ukrainian border in the summer of 2014. During the
verification of 5 or 6 videos of Grad MRLS attacks filmed
at Gukovo checkpoint on July 16 we found out that
some of the locations were easy to identify – for
example there was a pond and it was easy to find it
through Google Earth. But there was one video where a
person was sitting on the roof of his house and it was
very dark outside, we couldn't find the location. So we
were bouncing ideas for about three days in our group
and someone noticed that there was a cherry tree right
in front of the person's camera. We used Google street
view to look at each tree in front of each house that was
facing north/north east (where the fire was coming
from) and we eventually found it – that’s what it takes to
verify evidence sometimes.
Aric Toler
Contributor at Bellingcat.com, RuNet Echo
Russian/Ukrainian social media monitoring and open source verification communities
Studied Russian literature and intellectual history (U. Kansas, MA 2013)
Verifying Ukraine
The Role of Investigative Journalism
in Ukrainian Conflict
Interview with Aric Toler

2. On Conflict in Ukraine
I'm not a politician or geopolitical expert or anything.
From my own general observation conflict in Ukraine
peaked in February 2015, then it went down and
peaked again a little bit in summer - now it's back down.
I mean of course it's still bad, but it's definitely dived
down. I think Russians will probably stop sending troops
and tanks to Ukraine, as their attention has shifted to
Syria. In February
2015 Russia was
loosing a little bit of
focus because they
were running out of
battalions. I made
such conclusion
because in 2014
Russians were
sending people from
Kursk, Rostov, Nizhny
Novgorod, Pskov to
fight in Ukraine, but
in 2015 they obviously run out of people, whom they
could send to Ukraine. For the fighting in Debaltsevo
they had to mobilise soldiers from Far East regions
Buryats for instance. East Asians are very distinct from
local Donbass population so it was not easy to send
them and continue pretending that there are only locals
fighting in Eastern Ukraine, but it looks like Russians had
no other choice.
Whistle blowers
We try to work only with open sources - we like
everything to be as open as possible. Bellingcat has
never published a report with the only verification being
based on the words of one whistle blower. We may have
evidence from open sources and then talk to people
from the area – usually at that point we’re pretty sure
about the case, but we need to double check. So we
never base our verification entirely on whistle blowers
but we may use them to confirm some of our ideas – as
we did for MH 17 investigation.
Documenters
We try to develop our cooperation with more
established groups and organizations for example we
provide our materials to Vice News and they
complement it by the information which could not have
been found in the open sources. After Paris attack we
found Facebook profile of one of the suicide bombers
and then passed it to traditional journalists – they
interviewed Facebook friends of the bomber and found
information about him. So it’s better to find a good idea,
lead it using open sources and then pass to
organizations, which could do in-depth research on the
ground.
Impact of Bellingcat
If we speak about particular projects, we are especially
proud that Bellingcat has been helping the Dutch Safety
Board’s MH17 Investigation – we were in a very regular
contact with this team, passed all our materials to them.
But in general we think that we impact public discussion
and shape policies by our research.
US Department of
State mentions us in
the footnotes of their
publications, so we
know our research is
read by US diplomats.
Representatives of
Embassies of other
states read us as well.
Evidence created by
people
People learn – they already know that their videos are
shared, they know that their footage will be watched
around the globe. People want to have a voice: “I’ve
been bombed and I want you to know about this”. For
example, the video of woman in Sedovo – She said: “This
is August 23, it’s 4 am, I’m in the city of Sedovo and there
is a Grad attack”. From that video we know exactly
where it was taken, we know what it was – it saves lots of
There was one video
where a person was
sitting on the roof of his
house and it was very
dark outside, we couldn't
find the location until
someone in our team
noticed that there was a
cherry tree right in front
of the person's camera.
It’s better to find a
good idea, lead it
using open sources
and then pass to
organizations, which
could do in-depth
research on the
ground.

3. time and effort. We still have to verify it with other
sources, but thanks to such footage it has become
easier.
There are also special phone applications from Human
Rights Watch and Amnesty International, which verify
time and place where video or photo was taken, but
people don't use them much. This is unfortunate
because videos made with this app are saved on secure
server and thanks to built-in settings it corresponds to
all requirements to evidence. Such videos can be
actually admissible in the court.
On Future Projects
We are planning to do more research on Syria. Also I'd
like to do a big study about Russian volunteers who fight
in Ukraine – why they do this, what motivates them?
They usually are real volunteers and come all the way
out from, for example, Irkutsk or really far away places
just to go and fight in Ukraine – why they do it? – Now I
don’t have an answer That’s what we plan, what will be
accomplished remains to be seen.
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to investigate a variety of subjects, from Mexican drug lords
to conflicts being fought across the world. Bellingcat brings
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