A veritable “treasure trove” of Pentagon documents shows how deeply the United States penetrated Russian intelligence and security services, demonstrating Washington’s ability to warn Ukraine of planned attacks and giving it an assessment of the strength of Moscow’s military machine.

The documents reveal the Russian army fighting the war in Ukraine and a highly compromised military apparatus. The documents contain real-time daily warnings to US intelligence agencies related to Moscow’s planned attack, even specifying the targets. Such data allowed the US to transfer important information to Ukraine about how the country can defend itself, writes The New York Times

This information, the source of which remains unknown, also reveals the American assessment of the Ukrainian army, which is also struggling with its own difficulties. The leak, which dates back to late February and early March but only appeared on social media in recent days, highlights the acute air defense munitions crisis and calls into question the victories won by Russian forces in the eastern city of Bakhmut. country.

The information appears to indicate that the United States is also spying on military and political leaders in Ukraine, a move that reflects Washington’s efforts to gain a clear picture of Ukraine’s fighting strategies.

The new documents appear to show that America has a good understanding of the Russians’ plans and that the United States is capable of warning its allies about Moscow’s future operations.

The material also confirms an idea long recognized by intelligence officials: the United States has a better understanding of Russian military operations than the Ukrainians. The information is often difficult and sometimes confusing to gather, but the current “thesaurus” provides perhaps the most complete insight into the inner workings of Europe’s biggest land war in decades.

The leak could seriously damage Ukraine’s military efforts by revealing which US Russian bureaus know best, thus giving Moscow a chance to cut off intelligence sources. Current and former officials say it is too early to assess the extent of the damage, but if Russia can determine how the United States collects its information and disrupt that flow, it could have an impact on the front in Ukraine.

Such revelations have already complicated relations with allied countries, raising questions about America’s ability to keep its secrets. After reviewing the documents, a senior Western intelligence official said releasing the material was a serious step, suggesting it could reduce intelligence sharing. The official also noted that the exchange of information between different departments requires trust and guarantees that certain more sensitive information will remain secret.

Documents can affect diplomatic relations in other ways. Recently released documents also clearly show that the United States is not only spying on Russia, but also on its allies. While this is unlikely to surprise officials in these countries, the disclosure of such information always complicates relations with some key partners, such as South Korea, whose help is needed to supply arms to Ukraine.

Congressman Mike Gallagher, Republican of Wisconsin and a member of the House Intelligence Committee, said he expects the Biden administration to brief lawmakers on the matter starting next week when Congress resumes.

“Simply releasing so many documents seems like a major challenge for counterintelligence,” he said. “We’re talking about some things that could affect our security and the CIA’s efforts in Europe and the world.”

Analysts say the leaked documents total about 100 pages. New York Times journalists investigated more than 50 such pages.

The documents appeared online in the form of photographs taken from a pile of papers placed on top of a hunting magazine. Former officials who have investigated them say the documents look as if they were hastily crumpled and stuffed into a pocket, then sent to a safer location to be photographed.

Senior US officials said the investigation launched on Friday by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) would try to determine the source of the leak as soon as possible. Officials have acknowledged that the documents appear to be genuine and contain a series of memos belonging to the Pentagon’s General Staff that refer to a series of reports from other government intelligence agencies, but at least one of which has been redacted from the original. /…

According to Arik Toler, an analyst at Bellingcat, a Netherlands-based investigative website, the first part of these documents was published in early March on Discord, a popular social media platform among video game, cartoon and cryptocurrency enthusiasts for their heated discussions on such topics.

Discord has grown in popularity during the pandemic, and the site has become a meeting place for young people who want to chat, and fans of music, cartoons and cryptocurrencies. By the end of 2021, the platform has registered more than 150 million monthly active customers.

Basically, Discord servers are chat pages where people can discuss their hobbies, send messages, or video chat. Some servers are public and have thousands of people, while others are invite-only. These methods have ensured Discord’s survival, but they’ve also created a number of challenges for the company over the years due to more violent content.

Some of the documents were later republished in the following weeks on other social media platforms, such as 4chan – the anonymous messaging service – but gained more attention only in recent days when they appeared on Twitter and Telegram, analysts said.

On Saturday, photos of many of the documents could still be seen on Twitter. While in the past the platform may have stepped in to remove material under current laws that prohibit the distribution of pirated material, it appears that this time Elon Musk, the owner of the Twitter platform, hinted through a message that appeared on Thursday that he will not remove such materials

The material was made with the support of the Rador agency