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Duma Speaker Volodin: Allegation via Telegram
Photo: Alexei Danichev / ITAR-TASS / IMAGO
Vyacheslav Volodin, one of Russia's top politicians, on Saturday accused the US government of coordinating military operations in Ukraine.
In his opinion, this is tantamount to direct US involvement in military action against Russia.
"Washington essentially coordinates and develops military operations and thus participates directly in military actions against our country," Volodin wrote on his Telegram channel, according to the Reuters news agency.
The speaker of the lower house in the Russian parliament, the so-called Duma, is a prominent supporter of what Russia's head of state Vladimir Putin calls a "special operation": his war against Ukraine.
The United States and European members of the transatlantic NATO alliance have been supplying Ukraine with heavy weapons in recent weeks to resist Russia's war of aggression.
However, all allies have repeatedly stated that they will not take part in the fighting themselves to avoid being drawn into the conflict.
However, US officials had said that the United States had provided intelligence to Ukraine in order to repel the Russian attack, but denied that that intelligence included specific targets.
According to former US intelligence officials, however, these officials would have kept their mouths shut rather than boasting about their alleged role in Ukraine's recent military successes, the Guardian reports on Saturday.
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Last week, the US press reported anonymous officials claiming that US intelligence was instrumental in the assassination of Russian generals and the sinking of the warship Moskva in the Black Sea.
The New York Times report on the generals has been at least partially denied by the White House.
Nevertheless, it is clear how Duma hardliner Volodin could have come up with his accusations.
Paul Pillar, a former senior CIA official, told the Guardian: "My personal opinion is that it's unwise." He was surprised at the level of official confirmation of US intelligence's role in the Moscow sinking. and even more so in the alleged killing of the generals.
"The great concern is that this kind of public acknowledgment of such a full US role in the backlash inflicted on Russia could provoke an escalation by Putin that he might not otherwise have deemed necessary."
John Sipher, who, according to the Guardian, worked for the CIA for 28 years, including in Moscow, also thinks the disclosure of the shared use of US intelligence information is inappropriate, but above all he finds it disrespectful to the Ukrainian services and armed forces: "It takes something away from the people who are actually on the ground, who are using the intelligence, who are gathering their own intelligence, and who are fighting day and night."
Sipher does not believe that the boasting of the US secret service agents significantly increases the risk of an escalation between Russia and NATO, the anger of the Kremlin boss will probably be limited: »Putin knows how the game is played.
He gathers intelligence to try to kill Americans if the situation turns around, as he has done in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
The Russians have spent years attacking us with cyber warfare and disinformation,” Sipher said.
bor/Reuters