Putin aide’s hacked emails show ties with Ukraine separatists
Russian leader has denied any links
A gigabyte of leaked emails this week to a top aide of Russian President Vladimir Putin reveals direct political and financial ties with pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Putin has consistently denied any connection to the separatists, whether with military or financial support.
Fighting has raged in eastern Ukraine for two years, since rebels in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions proclaimed their independence from Ukraine and sought to join Russia. More than 9,600 people have been killed.
A Ukrainian group calling itself CyberHunta hacked into the account of an assistant to presidential aide Vladislav Surkov and uploaded more than 2,000 emails this week. Surkov, although under sanctions for his role in the separatist conflict, traveled this month to Berlin alongside Putin for a summit on Ukraine.
The hacked emails include a June 2014 list of casualties from the separatist Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) in eastern Ukraine, sent by then- chairman, Denis Pushilin.
Another email from Pushilin that same month listed expenses to set up DNR’s Ministry of Information.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed the emails as fake in comments to news agencies, saying that Surkov does not use email. But Ukraine’s National Security Service said Wednesday that the emails were real.
The leaks followed reports from U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia was responsible for a series of hacks on American officials. Some analysts suggested the Surkov leaks could be a retaliation.
Vice President Biden told NBC’s Meet the Press this month that the United States would be “sending a message” that Putin would recognize.
“He’ll know it,” Biden said. “And it will be at the time of our choosing. And under the circumstances that have the greatest impact.”
U.S. intelligence officials told NBC News of plans for unprecedented cyber covert action against Russia.
“Although we are a long way from having any evidence of this — if we ever will — I cannot help but wonder if this is the kind of response that U.S. policymakers have been hinting at, following the various hacks blamed on Russia, either working through Ukrainians or simply handed to them,” said Mark Galeotti, senior researcher at the Institute of International Relations in Prague.
“This kind of a leak is enough to warn the Russians that the USA has certain capabilities and is willing to use them,” he said. “Welcome to the world of proxy cyberwars.”
The separatist conflict broke out in Ukraine in spring 2014 after Russia annexed Ukraine’s breakaway Crimea. This came after months of protests that had brought down the government of Putin-ally Viktor Yanukovich and replaced him with a more proWestern government.
The leaked correspondence includes a PDF with a list of vetted candidates for leadership of the Donetsk republic.
The leaks followed reports from U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia was responsible for a series of hacks on American officials.