Russia commandos gutted, secret Pentagon docs allegedly leaked by Jack Teixeira show
As Air Guardsman Jack Teixeira made his first court appearance on espionage charges, the Pentagon leaks revealed how the war in Ukraine hollowed out Russia’s special forces.
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Intense fighting on the Ukraine frontline has hollowed out the ranks of Russia’s elite Spetsnaz Forces, according to classified Pentagon assessments allegedly leaked by Air Guardsman Jack Teixeira.
As the 21-year-old shouted out to his father during his first appearance on charges under America’s Espionage Act, shocking new details have emerged showing the true toll on both sides of the Ukraine war that have been kept secret from public scrutiny.
Mr Teixeira did not enter a plea to charges of “unauthorised retention and transmission of national defence information”, and “wilful retention of classified documents”. The two criminal charges each carry up to 15 years in prison. He was detained until his next appearance on Wednesday, where the US government will seek continued detention pending a trial.
“Love you, too, Dad,” Mr Teixeira yelled out to his father as he was retained in custody.
He is suspected of posting a trove of classified United States documents in the largest lead of top secret intelligence since whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed the National Security Agency’s illegal domestic spying program in 2013.
While the first details to emerge from the caches of leaks revealed the true extent of the devastation to Ukraine’s army, the latest published by The Washington Post shows how Russia’s clandestine commandos have been almost entirely gutted over the first year of the war.
The highly-specialised units suffered massive casualties due to Russian commanders’ over reliance on the elite troops alongside frontline infantry attacks, according to the US assessment.
The crack units, usually reserved for stealthy, high-risk operations like the failed attempt to capture President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the opening salvo of the war, were thrown into low-level fighting in an attempt to seize momentum, the Post reported.
Satellite imagery in the cache of leaked documents reportedly showed “significant losses” to all but one of five Russian Separate Spetsnaz Brigades that returned from combat operations after the summer 2022 offensive.
The 22nd Separate Spetsnaz Brigade, and two other brigades, suffered an estimated 90 to 95 per cent attrition rate, including the apparent death of an extremely senior Spetsnaz brigade commander fighting unusually close to the frontline.
One brigade, the 25th Spetsnaz Regiment, never returned to Russia, with the classified documents saying severe personnel and equipment losses “could explain why there is no clear [intelligence] signature of their return to garrison.”
The seemingly complete loss of elite troop units impacted Russia’s ability to conduct clandestine operations, the classified documents say, and will have a cascading effect as Russia’s ability to train paramilitary groups in unconventional warfare tactics is set back by years.
US AIRMAN CHARGED OVER LEAK
A 21-year-old national guardsman was charged with orchestrating the most damaging leak of US classified documents for a decade.
Jack Teixeira was arrested Thursday following a week-long probe into the leak of documents unveiling US concern over Ukraine’s ability to fend off the Russian invasion, and which showed Washington has spied on allies Israel and South Korea.
Teixeira was charged with the “unauthorised retention and transmission of national defence information” at his first court appearance, a short hearing in Boston.
He is also accused of the “unauthorised removal and retention of classified documents or material.” The counts carry prison sentences of ten years and five years respectively.
Teixeira wore a beige jumpsuit and looked glum as he appeared before a judge at Massachusetts federal court in Boston.
At one point his father shouted out, “We love you Jack,” to which Teixeira responded: “Love you too Dad.” He was not required to enter a plea and was detained pending a detention hearing set for next Wednesday.
Teixeira is suspected of posting the documents, some dated as recently as early March, to a private chat group on the social media platform Discord.
The New York Times reported that Teixeira was the leader of the group called Thug Shaker Central and reportedly posted the documents under the nickname “OG”.
He first wrote down the contents of classified documents to share with the group, but later began taking photos, telling other members not to share them, according to the Washington Post.
Some of the documents later appeared on other sites, including Twitter, 4Chan and Telegram.
Investigators have not yet suggested what Teixeira’s motive was. He enlisted with the US Air Force National Guard in September 2019 and was an IT and communications specialist who reached the rank of airman first class — the third-lowest for enlisted air force personnel.
A court affidavit by an FBI agent released Friday said that Teixeira had possessed top secret security clearance since 2021.
Friends of Teixeira described him to the Washington Post as a devout Catholic and libertarian who is interested in guns.
The newspaper reported that he comes from a family with decades of military service. His father spent 34 years in the same military unit as his son while Teixeira’s mother worked for non-profit organisations that support veterans.
Teixeira’s dramatic arrest at his home in the southern Massachusetts town of North Dighton was broadcast live on US TV networks Thursday.
Helicopter footage of the operation showed the suspect dressed in red shorts and a T-shirt with his hands behind his head, backing slowly toward rifle-armed, camouflage-clad law enforcement personnel who took him into custody.
With AFP
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