Russian officer killed with the help of running app Strava?

According to sources cited in a Le Monde article dated July 11, 2023, the running and cycling app Strava may have been used to plan the murder of Captain Vladislav Rjitski. The Russian officer was gunned down on July 10, 2023, in a Krasnodar park.

“On July 10, the submariner was jogging in the 30^th Anniversary of Victory Park. At around six in the morning, a Makarov pistol fired seven times at him. Rjitski died at the scene. Due to heavy rain, the park was empty and there were no witnesses to provide details or identify the shooter,” stated the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense head of intelligence.

Vladislav Rjitski was the former commander of the Krasnodar submarine, deemed responsible for a strike on the Ukrainian town of Vinnytsia, in July 2022, leaving 27 civilians dead. The officer had since been in the crosshairs of pro-Ukrainian activists.

Le Monde reveals that Vladislav Rjitski “regularly used” Strava, sharing his runs on the app almost daily. “Several Russian sources say his itineraries were very often identical, implying that his assassins may have used the app to pinpoint his position on the morning of July 10,” states the newspaper.

Strava’s terms of service make it clear that if he had not restricted data sharing, then “anyone on the internet” could have accessed “the distance covered”, “the runtime”, “pictures” and “maps” of his outings.