The Russia-Ukraine conflict: When intelligence sheds the veil of secrecy
Source: Washington Post, New York Times, The Guardian – Data: Duy Linh – Graphics: T.DAT
For two consecutive days, May 5 and 6, the US mainstream media reported that Washington provided intelligence to Ukraine to “destroy” the Russian general and sink the cruiser Moskva. Although these two information were vaguely answered by the US government, it also made the public curious about the intelligence war during the war in Ukraine.
Unprecedented
In the minds of many, intelligence is a silent and rarely made public front. This is quite the opposite in the conflict in Ukraine, when the US and its allies continuously publish “declassified” information about Russia’s military activities and what goes on inside the Kremlin.
In a speech last month, Jeremy Fleming, the head of Britain’s electronic intelligence agency, acknowledged that the speed and scale of declassification – the disclosure of intelligence on the Ukraine situation – was real. is unprecedented.
As expert Mark Galeotti of University College London says, we are going through a very different period in politics and international relations, one in which the intelligence campaign sheds its secrecy to let the public know more about it. fight. In a certain sense, this can be viewed as both an information war and a intelligence war.
If you look closely from before the war, it will be clear that the US and its allies have established a transatlantic intelligence-sharing system and gradually upgraded it.
The first public effort began in November 2021 when President Joe Biden sent CIA director William Burns to Moscow to warn that the United States was well aware of the moves of the Russian military.
The White House is usually very tight-lipped about the CIA chief’s trips, but the Biden administration has calculated that in this situation, it needs to promote the trip to alarm both inside and outside Russia, according to ABC News.
Shortly after Burns’ trip, US officials decided they needed to speed up sharing of sensitive intelligence with Ukraine and other members of the Five Eyes Alliance, which includes the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Is there a restricted area?
Sharing intelligence is considered a “safe” form of assistance because it is invisible or can be denied when necessary.
In general, the information that the United States feels relatively comfortable passing on to Ukraine includes the location of Russian troop gathering points on Ukrainian territory, sometimes information that Kiev asks for confirmation such as the location of military bases. Russian mobile commander.
Of course, there is intelligence that cannot be released to avoid revealing the source and method of collection. But in general, the West seems to be trying to warn Russia that it is behind Ukraine and is always ready to provide information of tactical value in real time.
Take, for example, the sinking of the battleship Moskva – an incident that Russia claims was caused by an explosion in an ammunition depot. Citing senior sources in the US administration, the New York Times reported that two officials said Ukraine knew the location of the ship and the US only confirmed that information.
However, the remaining officials revealed that the US role in sinking Russia’s Black Sea fleet flagship was larger than many thought.
The information was transferred to Ukraine a few hours before the two Neptune anti-ship missiles left the launch pad. A New York Times source in the US administration declined to say what specific information was being transferred, but one confirmed it was more than simply a report saying the ship was 65 nautical miles east of Odessa. male.
When asked about this on May 6, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby did not confirm or deny but softened the issue. He said that Kiev relies on its own intelligence sources and then combines with information shared by the US and its allies to “make its own decisions”.
Similar to the rumor that the US was helping Ukraine “destroy” the Russian generals, a spokesman for the US National Security Council issued a vague statement that Washington never intended to kill the Russian generals. Russian generals when transferring intelligence information to Ukraine.
US officials also acknowledged that Washington is barring itself from providing Ukraine with sensitive intelligence such as the location of Russia’s most senior generals on the battlefield or valuable targets on Russian territory.
The United States is concerned that Russia will view the provision of this sensitive intelligence as Western interference, causing the war to spread further in Europe.
Russia claims to be “doing everything necessary”
In a statement on May 5, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the Russian military knows very well that the US, UK and NATO regularly provide the Ukrainian military with intelligence data and other information.
He asserted that Russian military experts “are doing everything necessary” to deal with the moves of the West.
In contrast to the West, Russia does not publish much intelligence. All are encapsulated in the daily military update of the Russian Defense Ministry, in which the Russian side will state how many command posts and weapons stores of Ukraine have been attacked and destroyed in the past 24 hours by the Russian side. .
This is a way for Russia to declare to the world and UKraine that its military intelligence is still active and very effective.
at Blogtuan.info – Source: tuoitre.vn – Read the original article here
