Russia says US intel leaks may be fake, part of ‘hybrid war’ against Moscow

The leak of a trove of highly sensitive documents online could be a move by the United States to "deceive", Russia's deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted as saying Wednesday.

Ryabkov told Russian news agencies that, for now, the leak threw up many questions.

"It's probably interesting for someone to look at these documents if they are documents at all, or maybe they are fake, maybe this is a deliberate information dump," Ryabkov said.

"It's probably interesting for someone to look at these documents if they really are documents or they could be a fake or it could be an intentional leak." 

He said the United States is a "party to the (Ukraine) conflict" and is engaged in a "hybrid war" against Moscow, adding that "it is possible such things are being done to mislead the enemy - that is the Russian Federation."

The Kremlin spokesman stated earlier on Wednesday that he did not know "like everyone else" how authentic the documents were. Peskov during a briefing said, "Like everyone else, we do not know the degree of credibility these documents have."

"But even disregarding them, long before these documents appeared, we had and still have information that many fighters and instructors from NATO countries, including the United Kingdom, are taking part in combat operations."

A series of documents, purporting to contain highly classified Pentagon intelligence related to the Ukraine war and information gathering on close US allies, have emerged online in recent weeks. Documents posted online appeared to reveal details of how US agencies spy on other nations, including allies.

The documents bear classified markings, with some labeled “top secret”, the highest level of classification, and appear to be briefing slides prepared by the US military’s chief of staff.

Some also contain the marking NOFORN, or “Not Releasable to Foreign Nationals”, meaning they cannot be shared with foreign intelligence agencies, including Five Eyes, the collection of spy agencies in the US, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, according to the New York Times.

NATO has special forces in Ukraine, US military leak reveals

NATO maintains 97 special forces personnel in Ukraine, including 50 British, 14 Americans, and 15 French forces,

A document reviewed by AFP highlighted US concerns about Ukraine's capacity to keep defending against Russian strikes, while the Washington Post reported that another expressed doubts about the success of an upcoming offensive by Kyiv's forces.

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

Some national security experts and US officials say they suspect that the leaker could be American, but do not rule out pro-Russian actors.

A former CIA officer has said it is highly likely that Moscow orchestrated the leak in order to sow confusion and potential divisions between Washington and its allies.

When asked about such allegations, the Kremlin has said there's a tendency to always blame everything on Russia.

The Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin on Tuesday said the United States will continue to probe the leak of classified documents until the source of them was found.

The Pentagon has referred the case to the Department of Justice, which has opened a criminal investigation.

US military and intelligence agencies were reportedly looking at their processes for how widely some of the intelligence is shared internally.

Officials are also looking into the possible motivations a US official or a group of officials would have in leaking such sensitive information, according to recent press reports, which noted that investigators were looking at four or five theories, from a disgruntled employee to an insider threat who actively wanted to undermine US national security interests.

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