Russia accuses US of purposely deceiving them through intelligence leaks

Russia’s deputy foreign minister suggested on Wednesday that the recent leak of highly sensitive documents online may be a ploy by the United States to deceive Russia.

“Perhaps it would be interesting for someone to look at these documents, if they are really documents or they could be forged or they could be a deliberate leak,” Sergei Ryabkov told Russian news agencies.

“Since the United States is a party to the conflict (Ukraine) and is waging a hybrid war against us, it is likely that such methods will be used to deceive their opponent, the Russian Federation,” he said.

The breach — which has sparked a criminal investigation by the US Department of Justice — includes classified information about Ukraine’s fight against Russian forces, as well as classified assessments of US allies.

A document seen by AFP highlighted US concerns about Ukraine’s ability to continue to defend against Russian strikes, while the Washington Post reported that another had expressed doubts about the success of Kiev’s anticipated offensive.

The Guardian said US officials estimated in one document that there were 97 special forces personnel from NATO countries active in Ukraine at some point, including 50 British soldiers.

Asked about the leaks during a news conference Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “Like everyone else, we don’t know what degree of reliability these documents have.

“But even ignoring them, long before these documents appeared, we had and still have information that many fighters and trainers from NATO countries, including the United Kingdom, are participating in combat operations.”

Dozens of images of the documents — some also suggesting US spying on allies and partners including Israel, South Korea and Ukraine — have been found on Twitter, Telegram, Discord and other sites in recent days, though some may have been circulating online for some reason. The times.

Many of the documents are no longer available on the sites where they first appeared, and Washington is said to be working to remove them.