MOSCOW, April 11. /TASS/. The publication of leaked US intelligence data is a watershed moment which will leave a mark on Washington’s relations with its allies, says Andrey Bystritsky, Chairman of the Foundation for Development and Support of the Valdai Discussion Club.
"If this leak is real, then, of course, it is an alarming sign, regardless of one’s attitude. Politics is a symbolic thing, so this is an important symbol," the expert said. "There is no doubt that this has spiced up relations with [Washington’s] allies. That sort of thing tends to leave a mark."
According to Bystritsky, it is possible that the classified files were published as a "message from one part of the American establishment to the other."
He also speculated that the leak could have been the work of activists, as was the case with WikiLeaks, adding that, on the other hand, the leak could have been intended to mislead Russian authorities. In this regard, Bystritsky noted that the governments that US intelligence agencies were gathering information on were aware that they are being watched.
"I think that the people that are seriously involved in all this are well aware as to who is watching, why and how," the expert said.
Meanwhile, the expert believes that the leak’s effect on events on the international arena will be limited. In particular, he noted that the President of South Korea has not yet announced any decision to cancel his visit to the US, planned for late April.
"The effect will be limited, because it happened amid very serious, much more important, outright tectonic shifts in global politics, in the entire global structure," Bystritsky concluded.
About the leak
Previously, the US media reported that the Pentagon and the Department of Justice had initiated an investigation into the leak of classified documents outlining the plans of Washington and NATO to prepare Ukrainian forces for a counteroffensive. Many materials, disclosing information on arms shipment schedules and troop numbers, were published, in particular, on Twitter and Telegram. On April 7, the New York Times reported that a new batch of classified American documents on Ukraine had appeared on the Internet. According to the report, the leaked documents also include materials on the Middle East and China.
Reuters underscores that this leak may be one of the largest since the 2013 leak of over 700,000 documents, videos of diplomatic telegrams to the WikiLeaks website. Meanwhile, the agency notes that the leaked documents may be fake.