Fighting a Foreign War: Who Are the “Russian Army Vloggers” from Nepal?
Keywords
Russo-Ukrainian war
Nepal
vloggers
Gurkhas
Russian Army
Authors/Investigators
D.D, P.H. and others (redacted for privacy)
Editor
Emma Urbanova
OFU X Nepal Investigative Multimedia Journalism Network
(joint investigation)
With the emergence of short video platforms such as TikTok and the rise of instant messaging apps like Telegram, OSINT or SOCMINT (social media intelligence) have taken on an unprecedented role in modern conflicts. This applies particularly to the Russo-Ukrainian war and the so-called “Russian army vloggers”. Read on to discover how we used TikTok to identify more than 200 Nepali soldiers fighting in the Russian Armed Forces - and explore the motivations behind their involvement in a war far from home.
