March 1 (UPI) — Jack Sweeney, an information technology student at the University of Central Florida has set up a new Twitter account tracking the travel of Russian oligarchs amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Twitter account, Russian Oligarch Jets, had over 182,000 followers by 4 pm. on Tuesday.
“People have been asking me about Putin for awhile,” Sweeney, 19, told NBC News. “They wanted to know if they could track him.”
Though Russian President Vladimir Putin hasn’t traveled frequently, other elite businessmen in the country have, and according to Bloomberg, Sweeney received requests to track them after the United States and its allies announced sanctions on Moscow and some of its elite.
“The aircraft these oligarchs have are absolutely crazy,” Sweeney told Bloomberg, adding that they traveled on commercial-sized aircraft such as the Airbus A319 and Boeing 737. “Their planes are huge compared to other jets.”
The feed, launched over the weekend, is currently tracking jets of Russian billionaire tycoons, such as Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovich and steel billionaire Alexander Abramov.
Abramovich’s jet has been tracked in places, such as Moscow, Russia, Antigua and Barbuda, the account’s posts show, and Abramov’s jet-setting has been tracked in places, such as Abu Dhabi, the capital of United Arab Emirates, and in Los Angeles.
“These are the glitterati of Russia,” Russian expert Howard Stoffer, a University of New Haven teacher of international affairs, told NBC News. “They should be exposed, and they should be paying whatever price a country can extract from them.”
“Get these [airplane] tail numbers out. Tell the government these are the people, this is where they’re located and let them take whatever action they feel is appropriate.”
Sweeney previously gained attention when he tracked Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s private jet.
