My colleague Vytenis drafted this insightful piece highlighting an important challenge in sanctions enforcement and OSINT: transliteration and name matching across different alphabets. Last week, Mikhail Zvinchuk (Михаил Звинчук), founder of the Russian propaganda channel Rybar, traveled from Germany to Bosnia and then Montenegro, where he was detained. Montenegro is now expelling him and four others on national security grounds. Zvinchuk has been under an EU travel ban since 2023 opensanctions.org/entities/Q…. How he passed through Germany remains unclear. The key question: how effectively do screening tools handle names transliterated across different alphabets? Звинчук appears under multiple variations, including ZVINCHUK, ZVINČUK, ZVINTJUK, Swintschuk, Zvynchuk, and Zvinčiuk. Exact-match searches can easily miss someone already on a sanctions list. The case also shows the value of OSINT: BIRN’s Detektor reconstructed his route by geolocating videos filmed in Bosnia. At @i_intelligence , Vytenis's Russian OSINT course covers transliteration, Russian-language research, and information verification. Next course: 16–20 November 2026. Chinese and Arabic OSINT courses are also available. Links in the comments.

@i_intelligence 𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐎𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐓 𝐚𝐭 𝐈𝐒𝐒 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐀𝐬𝐢𝐚 𝐢𝐧 𝐒𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫! Eve C. and I (your Chinese OSINT team... 'at your service) will be delivering two talks on 3 September: 11:00–11:40: Russian, Chinese and Arabic Open Source Collection Intelligence Techniques 11:45–12:30: Chinese OSINT Investigations using AI Event date: 1–3 September 2026 Venue: Hilton Singapore Orchard We’re looking forward to meeting you there and catching up with all our friends and colleagues from across the industry! Check out the agenda here: issworldtraining.com/iss_ap/… #osint #events #issWorldAsia #osintlanguages #languageosint

I’m pleased to share a dedicated Start. me page featuring 𝐌𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐥𝐞 𝐄𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐍𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧 (𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐀) digital sources. A huge thanks to our @i_intelligence course instructor, Paolo Walcher, for putting this excellent resource together. You’ll find a curated collection of sources covering the region, including: 🌐State News Agencies and Broadcast Media 🌐Intermational News Outlets Covering the MENA 🌐Media Databases and Lists of Journals and Newsletters 🌐Academix Sources and Digital Libraries 🌐Podcasts 🌐Other useful MENA-focused digital resources Explore the page here: start.me/p/w9X5DL/i-intellig… #OSINT #MENA #MiddleEast #NorthAfrica #Intelligence #DigitalResearch #osintlanguage

🚨 Last chance to sign up! Next week, @i_intelligence will be delivering a live, instructor-led public course: 𝐎𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐓: 𝐒𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐥𝐞 𝐄𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐭 No previous language knowledge required. 📅 31 Aug – 4 Sep 2026 (next week) 🕑 14:00 - 17:30 CET and 🕗 8:00 - 11:30 EST How You Benefit: -Understand key characteristics of Arabic -Navigate Arabic and Middle Eastern sources confidently -Find Arabic and regional content, including news and documents -Find people through web and social media -Conduct location-based searches -Handle translation and transliteration challenges Whether you’re new to researching the region or looking to strengthen your existing OSINT skills, this practical course will help you search the Middle Eastern internet with greater confidence. 👉 Secure your place today: i-intelligence.eu/courses/os… #OSINT #OpenSourceIntelligence #OSINTTraining #MiddleEast #ArabicOSINT #ArabicWeb #DigitalInvestigations #OnlineResearch #Intelligence #Investigations #Geopolitics

𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤? Not to worry...@i_intelligence will be delivering our virtual short course 𝐎𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐓: 𝐒𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐋𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐠𝐞 on 19–20 November 2026. A great addition to your OSINT skill set, this practical course will help you navigate, search and make better use of online sources in foreign languages. We’ll cover foreign-language search techniques, translation tools, international online source discovery, naming conventions, and AI-assisted multilingual research among other things. Method of delivery: Live instructor led / two 3.5-hour sessions Instructor: Paolo Walcher 19 - 20 Nov 2026, 14:00 - 17:30 Central European Time 19 - 20 Nov 2026, 8:00 - 11:30 Eastern Time Learn more about the course and secure your place by visiting: i-intelligence.eu/courses/os… For those of you who value Credly accreditation, we’ve got you covered 😉 #OSINT #OpenSourceIntelligence #OnlineResearch #MultilingualResearch #OSINTTraining

@i_intelligence 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐬 𝐚𝐭 𝐈𝐒𝐒 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐀𝐬𝐢𝐚 𝐢𝐧 𝐒𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐞! • Russian, Chinese and Arabic Open Source Collection Intelligence Techniques • Chinese OSINT Investigations Using AI While foreign-language searches vary, the core OSINT methodologies remain largely the same. Example of what we shared: 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐀𝐈 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞:​ ​- Translate this​ ​- Summarise this​ ​- What does this post say?​ ​ 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝:​ ​- What does this mean in context?​ ​- What terminology or keywords should I search next?​ ​- What entities and relationships can I pivot from?​ ​- What assumptions am I making that I need to verify?​ Thank you to everyone who joined us. We’re already looking forward to seeing you again at a future ISS World conference! #OSINT #OpenSourceIntelligence #LanguageOSINT #AI #ISSWorld

🚨 𝐋𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐮𝐩! 𝐍𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤, 𝐈’𝐦 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐭: 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬. On Day 1, I’ll show you how to type, write, break down and dissect Chinese so you can actually work with the language in an online environment. Fast-forward to Session 5 on Friday... I’ll have you finding locations, documents and databases, uncovering new sources, and identifying names, people and organisations and a lot more across the internet using the Chinese language. All in five sessions. 🔎 Find out what it’s all about and secure your seat for this @i_intelligence course: i-intelligence.eu/courses/se… Happening next week: 📅 21–25 Sep 2026 14:00–17:30 CET 08:00–11:30 EST Can’t make it next week? No worries, I’ll be teaching it two more times this year: 📅 16–20 Nov 2026 | 08:30–12:00 SGT 📅 14–18 Dec 2026 | 13:30–17:00 CET Looking forward to welcoming you to my digital classroom! 祝你们周末愉快！ #OSINT #ChineseInternet #OnlineResearch #DigitalInvestigations #OpenSourceIntelligence