The documents appeared on social media last week. The documents mention, among other things, American insights into the war and information gleaned diplomatically. Bloomberg news agency also says the documents contain “real-time information” about the Russian military operation.
podcasts | Juggling with leaked documents
This information is painful for Russia, Wijninga says. But the leak is also painful for the United States. “If the Russians can determine how the Americans obtained this information, they can also take countermeasures. Then the well of the Americans can run dry. This is very harmful, because then you will feel more in the dark.’
“If Pentagon details go public in such detail, something serious is going on”
At first it was thought that the leak was caused by Russia. In the first leaked documents, adjustments were made to the number of deaths on the Russian side and on the Ukrainian side, to Russia’s advantage. But now the leak is suspected to be from the American side.
Research group Bellingcat describes that the documents only made headlines when they were distributed by pro-Russian Telegram groups, but the documents could already be found online much earlier. For example, Bellingcat was able to find documents that were already shared in early March on a Discord channel about a Filipino YouTuber. But according to the research team, it’s possible the documents were shared much earlier.
‘Something serious is happening’
Foreign affairs commentator Bernard Hammelburg notes that the United States now fears for “national security”. “If the Pentagon details come out in that detail, then something serious is going on.” White House spokesman John Kirby confirms that Americans are concerned: ‘We don’t know who is responsible for this. And we don’t know if they have any other (documents, ed) they intend to publish. This is certainly a cause for concern for us.’
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