Washington has been trying to reassure its partners for several days after a major leak of classified American documents relating to the war in Ukraine and other diplomatic topics, the authenticity of which is being questioned.
What are we talking about ?
The leaks in question are several photographs that appeared to have been rushed and were first posted in early March on social media Discord by an anonymous source, according to investigative website Bellingcat, who was able to consult. them before they were removed. The publication claims that they could start work as early as January. Some of these photos were then scoured by pro-Russian groups in encrypted Telegram messages. According to the New York Times, which claims it was able to see half of the photos and revealed some of their content on Thursday, they came from the “Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Pentagon,” one of the highest-ranking bodies in the US. American military hierarchy.
What do they reveal?
Some of these documents contain information about the war in Ukraine. “The photographs appear to show documents in a similar format to that used to provide daily updates of our high-level operations related to Ukraine and Russia, as well as other intelligence updates,” he said, a spokesman for the US Department of Defense.
The information contained in them does not seem to be of strategic importance or truly secret, since it has already been published in the past. According to information received by the New York Times, we learn, in particular, that the Russian army is experiencing difficulties and that its “military apparatus” is “deeply compromised.” They also confirm that US intelligence is still one step ahead of its Kremlin counterparts and has extremely accurate information about the Russian military. The Pentagon, for example, reportedly received a training plan for Russian gunners promised in Kyiv, including training and courses on weak points in Western tanks. “All this is not quite a scoop. We already knew that the Americans were one step ahead in intelligence. They, for example, announced the exact day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine,” recalls Xavier Teitelman, who regularly analyzes the conflict in Ukraine in YouTube videos.
Why is this a problem?
First, these leaks inform the Russian military about the level of intelligence that the Americans have and how to obtain it. We learn, for example, that the CIA is capable of intercepting internal communications from the Russian Defense Ministry. Secondly, the publication of these documents may threaten the lives of the sources who created them, that is, spies working on the ground for Washington. Finally, some published documents suggest that the White House is also spying on its allies, including Ukraine, South Korea, Israel and… France.
According to one of them, the authenticity of which could not be verified, a group of NATO special forces soldiers, including the French, will be in the combat zone in Ukraine. The information was immediately denied by the French Ministry of the Armed Forces. Again, Xavier Teitelman is not surprised by the fact that the Americans are collecting information about their strategic partners. “In the past, they installed a microphone in the mobile phone of former German Chancellor Angela Merkel,” he recalls. Our officials are aware of this, but prefer to turn a blind eye to it in order to maintain their ties to Washington. »
Are all these documents authentic?
Western officials questioned the authenticity and sources of some of the leaked documents. However, the fact that the Pentagon is launching an investigation to find out how the leak could have happened suggests that at least some of them are true. But it is possible that some of them were forged, as South Korean officials claim.
One leak was specifically talked about: it was an estimate of losses on both sides. The document reports that between 189,500 and 223,000 Russian soldiers have been disabled since the start of the conflict, including at least 43,000 killed in action, compared to 124,500 to 131,000 Ukrainian casualties, including 17,500 killed in action. battle. However, according to Bellingcat, the losses of the Russians roughly varied between the first post on Discord and the second post in the Telegram cycle. “40,000 is the number of Wagner soldiers killed since the start of the conflict. Therefore, it is impossible for the Russians to lose only 43,000 people, ”said Xavier Titelman.
Without confirming their authenticity, but without disputing it either, Washington calculated on Monday that this leak of classified documents posed a “serious” security threat.
Source: Le Parisien
I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.
