New batch of leaked documents zooms in on Russian war machine full of internal mistrust: “FSB thinks army is covering up number of Russian victims” | War Ukraine and Russia

Comprising a total of 27 pages — divided into photographs and sometimes with missing pages — the new document series demonstrates, according to The New York Times, how deeply U.S. intelligence has penetrated nearly every part of Russia’s intelligence and military chain of command. And it also shows that there is serious disharmony within the Russian apparatus.

For example, the US secret services state in one document that the main Russian secret service, the FSB, has “accused” the Russian Defense Ministry of “covering up the number of Russian dead in Ukraine”.

The document states that in discussions within the Kremlin, the FSB casts doubts on the official count of Defense killed and wounded. For example, it is suggested that they do not even count the dead and wounded of the Russian National Guard, or of the Wagner mercenaries – who would suffer very heavy casualties, especially in the battle for the city of Bachmut – or of the fighters who are deployed by Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of the southern Russian republic of Chechnya.

More generally, the report describes “unwillingness” and “a persistent reluctance” of military officials to pass on bad news higher up the chain of command.

The Americans’ finding dates from Feb. 28 and appears to be based on intercepted communications, according to “The New York Times.” According to the paper, the documents offer a string of reasons explaining why Russian President Vladimir Putin has not yet managed to win a military victory in Ukraine after more than 13 months of war, even though a blitzkrieg was the plan. This includes, for example, an undeniable power struggle with finger pointing between Russian authorities responsible for various aspects of the war, such as the FSB and the Ministry of Defense.

In addition, the various Russian forces deployed in Ukraine sometimes take “contradictory actions”, which make Russia’s military effort “complicated”, read elsewhere.

Another February 23 slide concludes that Russia has “failed to disrupt the massive supply of Western weapons and equipment to Ukraine.” “The ‘battered’ military apparatus of the Russians will not soon succeed in that either”, it sounds.

The estimated number of Russian soldiers killed varies widely. The FSB estimates the actual number of Russians killed or wounded in fighting in Ukraine “closer to 110,000,” the new document said. The time the ministry publicly released a death toll was in September last year, when Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu stated that 5,937 Russian soldiers had died since the start of the “special military operation.”

US services have previously estimated the Russian loss at about 200,000 soldiers. Another leaked document talks of 189,500 to 223,000 Russian dead and wounded through February, including 43,000 dead, and 124,500 to 131,000 Ukrainian dead and wounded, including 17,500 dead.

The new documents also provide fresh details of a very public discussion in February between Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin and Moscow over a lack of ammunition for Wagner fighters in Ukraine. “You eat without embarrassment on golden plates and let your children go on vacation to Dubai, while Russian soldiers die in trenches,” the Wagner boss fulminated in an audio recording. President Putin would have personally tried to solve the matter by bringing Prigozhin and Shogyu together in a meeting that would have taken place on February 22.

The new material that ‘The New York Times’ got its hands on was initially posted on one of the Discord servers where the first infamous set of leaked secret documents also appeared. The US Justice Department opened an investigation into the case on Saturday. The aim is to find out the source of the leaks and to investigate the authenticity of the documents.

According to ‘The Washington Post’, citing US officials, some of the documents appear to be forged. However, most of it is consistent with CIA reports circulating in the White House, Pentagon and State Department, the paper said. According to the newspaper, a person who worked at a military base would have taken the documents.

The New York Times also writes that many documents seem authentic, but that senior officials in the intelligence services warn at the same time that some documents have been modified. The documents may also contain outdated or incorrect information.

The newspaper submitted the new arsenal of documents to several US officials. While they did not contradict the information, they would not and could not independently verify the papers. Its authenticity has therefore not been confirmed by the security services.