On 10 July, a former Russian submarine commander, Stanislav Rzhitsky, 42, was assassinated while he was jogging in a park near the southern Russian city of Krasnodar. Although Rzhitsky had been transferred to a desk job and was no longer an active commander, it is known that vessels under his command have in the past launched cruise missiles at Ukranian cities as part of the current Ukranian conflict. He was therefore a target of the Ukranian intelligence services and shortly after his death a Ukranian website which lists possible war criminals showed his face with the word “Liquidated” stamped in red across it. The FSB (Russian Security Service) believes that the popular Russian fitness app “Strava” was used to trace his movements and select the assassination point. They say that it was carefully chosen as no CCTV cameras cover the location and, after shooting Rzhitsky four times in the back, the assassin got clean away. Western journalists claim that they tested the site later and that Rzhitsky’s profile on the app was public showing that he used the same jogging route regularly.
It is warning to all of us to try to control all data about ourselves that may be visible on the net.