Russia managed to fool US intelligence on the eve of the operation in Crimea
Moscow - Kyiv, March 24 (Navigator, Mikhail Ryabov) - Russia managed to fool US intelligence on the eve of the operation in Crimea, writes the Vedomosti newspaper with reference to the Waal Street Journal material.
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American reconnaissance satellites recorded the concentration of Russian troops “at striking distance” from Crimea, but the “wiretapping” of communications did not provide confirmation in the form of negotiations between Russian leaders, commanders or soldiers.
According to a high-ranking source of the publication, Russia deliberately ensured the secrecy of the operation, taking into account the peculiarities of the work of American intelligence services. “Even though we received a warning, we did not have enough information to understand what exactly would happen,” the source told the American newspaper.
Back in December 2013, the United States stepped up surveillance of the Russian base in Crimea, but nothing unusual was recorded. US officials are now inclined to believe that Russia secretly transferred well-trained fighters in small groups to Crimea.
The turning point occurred on February 18 after an outbreak of violence in Kyiv; US intelligence began to seriously consider the option of military intervention by Moscow in the event of a “sharp change of power” in Ukraine. Suspicions intensified on February 25 - 4 days before the “seizure” of Crimea, when the US military attaché in Moscow was notified of a sudden check of the combat readiness of troops of the Western, Central and Eastern military districts starting on February 26. Experts indicated that similar tactics were used in 2008 during the Russian-Georgian conflict. Satellite data showed a concentration of troops near the border with Ukraine. Within Crimea, the Russian military observed “exceptional discipline” in radio communications. The US intelligence services did not intercept any evidence of preparations for the capture, writes WSJ.
On February 26, US National Security Agency (NSA) Director James Clapper reported to Obama and other senior officials that Russia's target in Ukraine was Crimea, and the Russian military was preparing for a lightning operation. But intelligence services failed to intercept the relevant negotiations between representatives of the Russian authorities.
“We didn’t have anything like, ‘Okay, let’s get started,’” one WSJ source says. According to him, accurate intelligence information that “the Russian military is seizing strategic targets in Crimea” appeared only on February 27. By this time, Ambassador Payette had sent an urgent message to Washington about Russian flags flying over the Crimean parliament building. The next morning, many strategic facilities came under the control of armed men in Russian-style uniforms without insignia. On February 28, when Obama made a statement about the inadmissibility of violating the sovereignty of Ukraine, Crimea was already under the control of the Russian troops stationed there, says a WSJ source in the intelligence services.
Sources in the Pentagon told the newspaper that they ultimately received a significant part of the operational information on Ukraine through the embassy in Kyiv. To track the movements of Russian troops, the military attache and embassy officials called contacts in the Ukrainian border service and navy - some said they were already burning secret documents. The Russian military in Crimea, with whom their American colleagues communicated, also did not provide the necessary information - some said that they themselves did not know. “It was classic maskirovka,” a senior source told WSJ.
Now the United States intends to urgently close this “information hole” by increasing the use of satellite constellations and increasing radio interception capabilities in Russia, Ukraine and the Baltic states, writes WSJ.
The situation in the Obama administration is “nervous,” says one WSJ source, “like nothing has ever happened before.”
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