Student sets up Twitter account tracking locations of Russian oligarchs’ private jets
‘They should be exposed’: Student, 19, who tracked Elon Musk’s private jet on Twitter creates account showing the locations of aircraft owned by Russian oligarchs including Roman Abramovich
Jack Sweeney, 19, who earlier this month set up a Twitter account to track Tesla CEO’s Elon Musk’s private jet is now focusing his efforts on Russian oligarchs Sweeney is tracking the aircraft of some of Russia’s richest peopleAccount is currently tracking 39 planes and helicopters belonging to 19 oligarchsIt includes aircraft owned by Russia’s richest resident, Vladimir Potanin, Roman Abramovich, owner of Chelsea FC and Alexander Abramov, a steel billionaireThe new Twitter account has already has garnered 64,000 followers
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A 19-year-old who created a Twitter account that tracked Elon Musk‘s private jet has turned his attention to tracking Russian oligarchs.
Jack Sweeney, a college freshman student at the University of Central Florida, set up a new Twitter account called @RUOligarchJets which he says tracks the movements of various aircrafts owned by Russian billionaires – using bots to detect air traffic data.
Sweeney says he started the account after he received several requests to track the aircraft of Russia’s oligarchs following the invasion of Ukraine. Prior to the start of the war last week, Sweeney said he knew very little about Russian billionaires or their planes.
‘Before this, I didn’t even know there were these influential oligarchs like this. They probably do have a decent amount of power from what I can understand.
‘The aircrafts these oligarchs have are absolutely crazy,’ Sweeney explained to Bloomberg. ‘Their planes are huge compared to other jets.’
They include aircraft owned by Russia’s richest resident, Vladimir Potanin, Roman Abramovich the owner of Chelsea football club and Alexander Abramov a steel billionaire.
College freshman Jack Sweeney, 19, who earlier this month set up a Twitter account to track Tesla CEO’s Elon Musk’s private jet is now focusing his efforts on Russian oligarchs
Sweeney’s account is currently tracking 39 planes and helicopters belonging to 19 oligarchs.
‘People have been asking me about Putin for a while, they wanted to know if they could track him,’ said Sweeney to NBC. ‘It’s just been crazy. I just figured some people would be interested in it. I just didn’t think all kinds of people would be.’
Sweeney used a list of planes, from private jets and helicopters to commercial-sized aircraft, that was already being tracked by a blog called Radar Spots.
It includes aircraft owned by Russia’s richest resident, Vladimir Potanin, Roman Abramovich, owner of Chelsea FC
Sweeney, who is studying information technology, created the tracker using a program that analyzes public information from several sources to identify planes. Above, a jet belonging to Roman Abramovich, owner of Chelsea FC, is tracked
One of Abramovich’s jets landed in Latvia on Sunday, while one of his helicopters took a trip in the Caribbean. As for, Abramov, one of his planes recently landed in Abu Dhabi while another landed in Munich.
Sweeney has also set up a second account that also tracks planes registered to President Putin and other Russian VIPs’.
He warns, however, that the information might not be particularly accurate because there is limited flight data available in Russia.
Although the account is able to track aircraft movements, it is unable to provide any crucial context and it remains unclear who might be traveling on the flights or their reasons for traveling.
Nevertheless, one Russian expert said authorities should use the information obtained by Sweeney’s account to seize assets.
Sweeney also set up a separate account that tracks the whereabouts of President Putin’s plane
Vladimir Putin’s flagship aircraft is the Russian-made IL-96-300PU, pictured above It is a wide-bodied, long-haul airliner
Sweeney warns that the information might not be particularly accurate because there is limited flight data available in Russia
‘They should be exposed and they should be paying whatever price a country can extract from them,’ Howard Stoffer to NBC, who teaches international affairs at the University of New Haven in Connecticut.
‘Get these airplane tail numbers out. Tell the governments these are the people, this is where they’re located and let them take whatever action they feel is appropriate.’
None of the Russian jets will be allowed to fly over the European Union or Canada after both banned Russian airlines from its airspace.
Moscow responded in kind, barring carriers from 36 countries including all 27 members of the European Union.
Without access to Russia’s airspace the ban affects commercial airlines who are having to divert flights south while also avoiding areas of tension in the Middle East.
The United States is also considering similar action, but has yet to make a final decision, according to U.S. officials.
Sweeney first came to public attention after Elon Musk asked him to shut down his Twitter account that tracked the whereabouts of his private jet.
Musk had previously asked for Sweeney to take the account down earlier in the fall in exchange for $5,000 calling it a ‘security risk’, but he ultimately refused and asked for an internship instead.
Sweeney countered Musk’s offer, asking for $50,000 instead, but Musk declined.
Sweeney set up a Twitter account in June 2020 to track Elon Musk’s private jet
Tesla CEO Elon Musk previously asked Sweeney to take the account down in exchange for $5k
