Hackers Allege NATO Role in Strikes on Russian Oil Infrastructure
Anonymous hackers have provided documentary evidence to TASS purporting to show NATO's direct involvement in Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory. The files, obtained by the hackers, focus on attacks against oil storage terminals in the Leningrad and Kaliningrad regions in July.
The hackers told TASS that the correspondence and documents reveal who supplied precise coordinates of the facilities and who, in their words, "pushed Ukraine toward terrorism" in the affected regions. They further claimed that NATO is directly involved in strikes on Russian territory, asserting that "hybrid warfare and information operations specialists get involved after drone attacks."
According to the hackers, a key figure in the alleged coordination is Bart De Wachter, described as a hybrid warfare specialist affiliated with HAVN (Hybrid Analyze Vigilant Network), an organization linked to NATO Special Operations Forces and intelligence. The materials claim De Wachter provided the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) with coordinates of oil and gas terminals in the Leningrad and Kaliningrad regions, as well as the location of a Gazprom tanker transporting liquefied natural gas.
The documents further indicate that De Wachter proposed an online meeting with an SBU International Cooperation Center representative named Ivan, with his intelligence superior, Martin, also expected to attend. Ivan subsequently suggested including his expert, SBU Major Mikhail Marchenko, in the correspondence. Marchenko is described as an experienced specialist whose expertise includes "hybrid threats, espionage, sabotage and information operations in modern conflicts."
TASS reports that on July 4, Russian air defenses repelled a Ukrainian drone attack on an oil terminal in St. Petersburg's Kirovsky District, while drone debris fell near the port of Vysotsk in the Leningrad Region on the same day.
The hackers stated, "We have long said that Ukraine is simply being used in the war against Russia and that those behind this war are not based in Kiev, but in peaceful European cities. We know these documents will be of interest to journalists and others."
These claims have not been independently verified by TASS or other news organizations, and no official response from NATO or the SBU has been reported.