The Kremlin is denying accusations of significant infighting within the Russian government uncovered in a new batch of leaked classified United States documents.
This new trove of classified documents, 27 pages in total, reveals a divide between Russia's main domestic intelligence agency, the Federal Security Service (or FSB), and the country's defense ministry, with the former accusing the latter "of obfuscating Russian casualties in Ukraine." This highlights "the continuing reluctance of military officials to convey bad news up the chain of command," the documents alleged, according to the New York Times.
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FSB officials argued that the ministry was short-counting its casualty total in the war in Ukraine by excluding the dead and wounded among the Russian National Guard, the Wagner Mercenary Group, and the Chechen troops involved. The FSB, per a leaked document dated Feb. 28, "calculated the actual number of Russians wounded and killed in action was closer to 110,000.
While the report doesn't specify what the defense ministry believed its casualty count to be at that time, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that fewer than 6,000 troops had been killed from the start of the war through September.
“I don’t know what these reports (of infighting) are based on, but I’m doubting their reliability and the author’s understanding of the essence of what is happening inside Russia," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told CNN.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley told lawmakers in late March that the U.S. assesses that "the Russians have well over 200,000 casualties," which matches another leaked document that purported said the Russians had suffered between 189,500 to 223,000 casualties as of February with up to 43,000 killed in action.
The new batch of documents also purportedly reveals that Russian President Vladimir Putin attempted to personally resolve the public dispute between Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and Shoigu on Feb. 22, which Peskov said he knows "nothing about."
“The meeting almost certainly concerned, at least in part, Prigozhin’s public accusations and resulting tension with Shoygu,” the document said, the Times reported.
At the time, Prigozhin, whose forces were leading the fighting in Bakhmut, accused the ministry of "treason" for intentionally withholding necessary aid and resources from them. Prigozhin, previously known as "Putin's chef" for his catering business that garnered government contracts, grew in prominence as Russia's troops floundered in Ukraine, though his troops have since struggled to capture Bakhmut, a relatively insignificant town in eastern Ukraine, for months.
Other leaked documents, however, also revealed the U.S. has low expectations for Ukraine's upcoming offensive. One document, labeled “top secret,” from early February, warned that large “force generation and sustainment shortfalls” make it more likely that their offensive will result in only “modest territorial gains,” while another predicted the fighting in the Donbas region "is likely heading toward a stalemate," according to the Washington Post.
The new information has been gleaned from the latest batch of classified U.S. documents that have been released on the gaming platform Discord for weeks. The individual responsible for the leaks was identified as a young gun enthusiast who worked on a U.S. military base, according to the Washington Post, who interviewed a teenage member of the group where the leaker, who goes by OG, released hundreds of documents.
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Some of the documents appear to be altered or manipulated though it's unclear whether the leaker is responsible for those and how many of the leaked documents have been changed, though multiple countries have said reporting from the leaked documents appears to be false, while others may not still be accurate.
President Joe Biden said on Thursday that law enforcement is "getting close" to identifying the leaker as the Pentagon continues to do damage control with allies while assessing who has access to classified information.