IIRC there were calls for Ukrainian phone companies to block international calls to/from Russia, as a moral statement and to stop Russians influencing their relatives in Ukraine, but the intelligence value of not doing so was too great to pass up.
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I don’t think positional data from the radio signal is all that relevant in most cases. It’s a trench war where most of the frontline has hardly moved in a year or more, where both sides have plenty of drones and access to satellite imagery. Everybody knows where the enemies are – it’s having the right force to kick them out of there that’s the problem. It may be useful if a phone signal can be associated with some valuable target that moves behind fortified lines, like an artillery or anti-air battery, that might justify dipping into the limited stock of HIMARS missiles, but it won’t make much difference to learn that some mobik in a well-known frontline bunker is scrolling TikTok as he waits for the next meat assault.
As the Russian reactions shared by GagHalfrunt indicate, this law seems to be less about protecting soldiers and more about protecting propaganda. By taking pictures, recording videos and talking on the phone about their abysmal experiences, soldiers undermine official narratives and “discredit the armed forces”, and that’s apparently the most pressing issue to solve in this debacle.
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Sounds like an easy way to get off the frontlines. Of course, Putin’s way of dealing with problems might make people think twice.
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Gathered over time in bulk, it can reveal a lot. If phones can be linked to particular units, it’s easy to track their movement, which can be important, especially if it’s a specialized unit. (e.g. shifting a mine-clearing unit to a different location.)
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“Mr Bradsaw has learnt the first lesson of how not to be seen, not to stand up. However, he has chosen a very obvious piece of cover.”
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