Media continue to analyze leaked secret US documents analyzing the war in Ukraine. A report by The New York Times published this Thursday (13) states that Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has engaged in an internal dispute with the Russian Ministry of Defense over the number of military casualties from the war in Ukraine. For Russia’s intelligence agency, the number of dead and wounded in the conflict is 110,000.
According to the newspaper, the US special services would have obtained this information from the interception of electronic messages. In one of the documents, US intelligence officials claim that the FSB “accused” the Russian Ministry of Defense of “concealing Russian losses in Ukraine”.
According to the FSB, the Ministry of Defense does not take into account in its reports the losses among National Guard fighters, mercenaries of the private military group “Wagner” and servicemen sent from Chechnya to Ukraine. US intelligence claims this shows the military’s reluctance “to pass bad news up the chain of command”.
The last time the Russian Ministry of Defense publicly stated the number of military losses in the war was on September 21, 2022, announcing that 5,937 Russian servicemen had been killed in Ukraine by then.
Commenting on reports about the alleged controversy between the FSB and the Ministry of Defense, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “I don’t know what these reports are based on, but I am ready to question their authenticity and understanding of the author about the essence of what is happening inside Russia,” said Peskov this Thursday (13).
Context
The leak of US military and intelligence documents, dating from late February and early March, took place in the last week and have a significant part dedicated to the war in Ukraine. The Pentagon even unofficially recognized the legitimacy of the documents.
Comprised of a series of military charts, with many marked “top secret”, the contents of the leaked reports demonstrate an analysis of the losses suffered by both sides of the war and the military vulnerability of each. In particular, a conclusion is drawn about the fragility of the Ukrainian army and its inability to conduct a large-scale offensive operation against Russia.
Previously, another batch of secret documents revealed an estimate made by the United States that Russia would have had between 189,500 and 223,000 military casualties, with the death toll being between 35,500 and 43,000.
The FBI arrested on Thursday (13) a suspect of having leaked the secret documents of the Pentagon and of the North American intelligence. US Attorney General Merrick Garland confirmed that Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-old member of the US Air National Guard’s intelligence unit, was arrested on suspicion of involvement in the leak of classified documents.
“The FBI has made an arrest and continues to conduct authorized law enforcement actions at an apartment building in North Dayton, Massachusetts,” the FBI statement reads.
Editing: Thales Schmidt
Source: www.brasildefato.com.br
