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Private key authentication, anyone?

What is the key tied to, the person, the organization, or the device? Where do you obtain the public key? Which certificate authorities will you trust to verify the identify of public figures? Will any of this work under wartime conditions when people are moving around, using random webcams and mobile devices?

I mean, it's not like governments don't have the financial means to figure something out...

Don't be naive. Governments can't solve hard technical and social problems just by throwing in more money. If that was true we would have working fusion power by now.

And in some parts of Ukraine, there is effectively no longer any government at all.

I see no particular reason why existing diplomatic courier services, chain of trust, and verification procedures can't be used for key exchange. What are the failure modes you are sceptical about?

>Will any of this work under wartime conditions when people are moving around, using random webcams and mobile devices?

Just follow the procedure to establish trust cryptographically, then arrange the meeting by any channel you like.

>Just follow the procedure to establish trust cryptographically,

ah, you figured it out!

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