Lucas Kuo

COO @osc_london. previously @SayariLabs, @C4ADS, @OSIA_RUSI.

[Lucas Kuo @_LucasKuo]

This is the most detailed public report we have put out at 116 pages and nearly 700 footnotes.

When we’re calling out the Kremlin exploiting a massive vulnerability in the banking system and how it leveraged the country of Kyrgyzstan as a front, we need to be.

[Open Source Centre @osc_london]

NEW: How did A7 move billions of dollars in illicit Russian money through major Western banks?

The answer - contained in thousands of previously unseen documents - involves custom AI tools and fake shipments of tomatoes, carnival hats and thousands of pirate eye patches.

[Mitchell Hashimoto @mitchellh]

Mind boggling to me that I can make a thing faster and there's always people that ask "but why?" What kind of mentality is that? The pursuit of excellence does not need justification. Also, I find in so many cases, we can't know the impact of an improvement until we do it.

For example, one I've talked about before: Ghostty's high IO throughput has enabled terminal program (emulator and TUI) fuzzing at a speed thats incomparably fast to prior solutions. This has resulted in upstream patches to resolve issues in popular projects like btop, tmux, and more.

Speed enabled that anecdotally example that lifted the tides of adjacent communities that don't rely on Ghostty technology at all. I didn't predict this.

Make things better because they can be better and let the results naturally play out.

[Lucas Kuo @_LucasKuo]

It is always crazy to me how legacy accounting software/ERPs are so awful that an entire industry of wrapper companies and enablement services exist.

Probably more than 50% of these co's would get undercut if incumbent roadmaps actually prioritized much needed design/ux improvements rather than bolting on another half-baked AI feature.

[BankCheck @BankCheck_]

New OSC report: “Kremlin’s Multi-Billion Dollar Sanctions Evasion Network Exposed.” BankCheck contributed analysis on upstream payment risk, including hidden entities, payment typologies, and nested structures used to move funds through banking channels. https://t.co/uyAN1diswj

[Lucas Kuo @_LucasKuo]

Really great work here from @novayagazeta_en

Particularly appreciated this quote about Ilan Shor (translated):

"In Russia, he was persona non grata, but now he's persona number one. But it's a double-edged sword. After all, he's helping more than just Russia: he's selling foreign goods and raw materials. Essentially, Western companies need him just as much as the Russian state needs him. And what will happen after the war ends? Maybe he'll come up with new services that Europeans will need. He was like this, then he turned around, and now he's different. One day, one way, another tomorrow."

[Ilya Lozovsky @ichbinilya]

Big new investigation from @novayagazeta_en (for now only in Russian) on Moldovan-oligarch-turned-Kremlin-operator Ilan Shor and his sources of financing. https://t.co/BazZxWplUs

[Benjamin Strick @BenDoBrown]

All of you satellite imagery nerds out there, @planet's media program is looking for a full-time research lead to join them. Really cool chance to work with a nice team and get some hands on amazing imagery! 🛰️
https://t.co/BTzZ2bowdZ

[Shelby Holliday @shelbyholliday]

New: As tankers ferry sanctioned oil around the world, their criminal owners are using a mishmash of digital tools to control crews & cover their tracks.

The practices, discovered U.S. Coast Guard cyber teams, shed light on the dangers of the dark fleet. https://t.co/cvrwrCuicD

[Lucas Kuo @_LucasKuo]

@shelbyholliday This is incredible reporting on an often overlooked angle. very much appreciate the insight here.

[Lucas Kuo @_LucasKuo]

We were able to build off of the fantastic investigative work from @BelarusFiles, @FT, @washingtonpost on this network.

Much, much more to dig into here. We’ve only scratched the surface

[Open Source Centre @osc_london]

Today, the EU sanctioned the PRC company Shenzhen Minghuaxin for supplying components to RU drone manufacturer Rustakt LLC.

We obtained financial records showing Rustakt was using A7 and Kyrgyzstan likely to make payments to Shenzhen Minghuaxin and other co's for drone parts.

[Lucas Kuo @_LucasKuo]

@robin_j_brooks There is another dimension to this story with regards to Kyrgyzstan

We just published a deep dive investigation into how KGZ was integrated into the A7 network that was designed specifically to help Russia bypass sanctions and settle payments abroad. Might be of interest.

[Open Source Centre @osc_london]

NEW: How did A7 move billions of dollars in illicit Russian money through major Western banks?

The answer - contained in thousands of previously unseen documents - involves custom AI tools and fake shipments of tomatoes, carnival hats and thousands of pirate eye patches.

[Lucas Kuo @_LucasKuo]

@angela__howard @osc_london Appreciate it -- very kind of you!The team spent a lot of time trying to distill the data so we're glad it resonated

[Lucas Kuo @_LucasKuo]

Tomorrow.

[Open Source Centre @osc_london]

12 JUN 2026

[Lucas Kuo @_LucasKuo]

@nicoleperlroth Looks awesome! Excited to listen to it

[Lee Robinson @leerob]

"Engineering, product, and design are all merging into a 'builder' role"

Yeah... I'm not so sure. This feels like an oversimplification and podcast talking point. Reality is a lot more complex.

Even with 1000 "Member of Technical Staff" titles, someone still has to wake up and care 100x more about Product or Design than anyone else. It is their Main Thing™

That's not to say MTS titles are universally bad, but I think they're an example of this 'builder' talking point that's become bastardized.

AI and coding agents have made generating code easy and yet... you're in for a world of pain if non-engineers ship a bunch of slop and don't have great engineers to tame the complexity.

The SF hivemind has a tendency to overfit what works at startups for every company. And to be fair, sometimes this is true! Startups can be a leading indicator for how the industry is changing and often cause disruption.

However, it is going to be incredibly hard to disrupt the extremely human parts of corporate jobs. You really think there's going to be a PM who also does some engineering and design on the side at JPMorgan Chase?

This is true for the simple parts of most jobs, like people wanting to have ownership over something and do good work, move up a career ladder, support their family, get paid well, make an honest living...

And also the hard parts: internal politics, some critical business system that has a bus factor of 1 which has been running for 15 years and isn't documented anywhere because it's that guy's job security. The real world has a lot of this stuff.

It's easy to pontificate about all roles collapsing but it's actually really nice to have a specific person or team who is an expert in one thing that you can work with. I don't expect that to change. Further, I think AI disruption to knowledge work will take decades to play out because it is more fundamental to the human condition (e.g. sociological/organizational) than pure intelligence.

[Lucas Kuo @_LucasKuo]

@karrisaarinen @linear Would love to give it a try! open-source-centre

[Lucas Kuo @_LucasKuo]

"You can outsource thinking, but you can't outsource understanding" is something that the companies who are trying to ram AI into intelligence analysis need to hear.

Too many are forgetting about (or never learned) core tradecraft in the rush to seize market share as the leading AI-powered [insert supply chain/compliance/sanctions] solution.

[Will Marshall @Will4Planet]

I’m introducing a new type of machine intelligence that understands our physical world in real-time… a powerful expansion of AI’s capabilities.

The AI models today that have captivated the world are very powerful – wrapping most of human knowledge as committed to the internet – yet they are at their core, blind. This is about to change. Earth imagery gives the LLMs sensors. I call it “Planetary Intelligence.” https://t.co/rVyiqwDaKn (1/4)

[Lucas Kuo @_LucasKuo]

That's how it works right @mouthofmorrison

[Lucas Kuo @_LucasKuo]

About as clean of a shot as you could ask for across these cases.

Even zapped one with radar!

[Open Source Centre @osc_london]

The evidentiary standard for identifying these ships is high – we have not included a number of additional vessels we believe have likely visited to load coal or other commodities.

[Satellogic @Satellogic]

Proud to have collaborated on this insightful analysis by presented by OSC at the UN Security Council.
It’s always rewarding to see how high-frequency Earth Observation data can help bring greater clarity and context to complex global developments.
A great example of how satellite imagery and geospatial analysis can support timely, data-driven understanding.