- America’s severance over the disclosure of classified documents
Washington is trying to assure its allies that it will take care of their interests. On the other hand, the US Secretary of Defense said that the US will leave no stone unturned to get to the bottom of the leaked documents, from Ukraine’s air defense to Israel’s spy agency Mossad, as well as the details of issues related to China, the Middle East and Africa, etc. The United States is in trouble after the online publication of classified documents containing And US officials are scrambling to find the source of the leak and appease their allies.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blanken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke to their Ukrainian counterparts on Tuesday. “We have had high-level discussions with our allies and partners over the past few days, including assuring them of our commitment to intelligence protection,” Blanken said later at a press conference.
Blanken said he had spoken with his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Koliba, and “reaffirmed America’s continued support for Ukraine in its efforts to defend its territorial integrity, its sovereignty, its independence.”
The leaked documents include classified information about the war in Ukraine against Russian forces, as well as classified assessments of US allies. Some of them are of a highly sensitive nature, with reference to Ukraine’s military capabilities and shortcomings.
The US Department of Justice has opened an investigation into the alleged leak of the documents
Leak of documents ‘deeply regrettable’
Lloyd Austin, who was with Blanken at the press conference, said that he had also spoken to his Ukrainian counterpart, Oleksiy Zhirenkov.
“He and the leadership are focused on this issue,” Austin said. He claimed that “he has the capacity to carry on this work successfully.”
“We will investigate every corner and leave no stone unturned until we know its source and its full nature,” the US defense secretary said.
Meanwhile, CIA director William Burns described the revelation as “very unfortunate”. He, however, did not give details in this regard and said that the Pentagon and the Department of Justice are actively investigating.
Officials say that most of the documents are fabricated
Dozens of images of the documents, some of which also point to US spying on allies and partners including Israel and South Korea, have circulated on Twitter, Telegram, Discord and other websites.
Many of the documents are no longer available on the social media sites where they first appeared, and the US is reportedly working to remove them.
Austin spoke with South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup to discuss the leaked documents. The leaked documents allegedly detailed US surveillance of Seoul and revealed South Korea’s reservations about directly supplying Ukraine with munitions.
The South Korean opposition has demanded an apology from the US for spying.
Kim Tae-hye, deputy director of national security, told reporters that the two defense chiefs agreed that a “substantial number” of documents were fabricated.
The implications of the disclosure of these documents could be significant and could potentially endanger US intelligence sources as they provide valuable information to the country’s enemies.
What did Russia say?
The recent leak of classified documents is being termed as the most serious security breach since more than 7 lakh documents, videos, diplomatic cables were exposed on the WikiLeaks website in 2013.
US officials said the investigation was in its early stages and investigators had not ruled out the possibility that pro-Russian elements were behind the leak.
Russia reacted by saying that there is a general tendency to always blame the Kremlin for everything.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, when asked about allegations that Russia could be responsible for the leak, said: ‘I can’t comment on that.’ He added that you and I know that the tendency to blame Russia for virtually everything is a disease in general.
In response to a question about the US spying on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the Russian spokesman said that it cannot be denied. He added, “The fact that the US is spying on various heads of state, especially in European capitals, has come to the fore for a long time, leading to various dangerous situations.” ”
Meanwhile, Holger Becker, a member of the German chancellor’s Social Democrats, who is also a member of parliament’s digital affairs committee, said the revelations were “massively embarrassing” for Washington. But this will not harm the existing relationship.
Baker said some of the documents were genuine while others appeared to have been “tampered with” and some were unclear as to whether they were fake. “I don’t think it will increase the pressure on Germany and other allies of Kiev,” he said.