UN chief reacts to Pentagon spying revelations as leaks suspect arrested outside home

The US believes that UN secretary general Antonio Guterres is too willing to accommodate Russian interests, according to fresh revelations in leaked classified documents.

The documents suggest that the US has been closely monitoring the secretary general, reported BBC.

They also describe private communications involving Mr Guterres and his deputy as well as candid observations about the war in Ukraine and a number of African leaders.

“Guterres emphasised his efforts to improve Russia’s ability to export,” the document says of the Black Sea Grain deal brokered by the UN and Turkey that was brokered in July amid fears of a global food crisis.

“Even if that involves sanctioned Russian entities or individuals,” the document adds.

Mr Guterres’ spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said that the secretary general is not surprised that he was being spied on.

“The Secretary-General has been at this job, and in the public eye, for a long time,” he was quoted as saying.“He’s not surprised by the fact that people are spying on him and listening in on his private conversations. What is surprising is the malfeasance or incompetence that allows for such private conversations to be distorted and become public.”

The Pentagon will review its intelligence access procedures after classified military information was leaked online.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement that the Pentagon would conduct a review of its “intelligence access, accountability and control procedures” to prevent such a leak from happening again.

Mr Austin’s statement came after armed FBI officers arrested 21-year-old Jack Teixeira, a relatively junior member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, on suspicion of leaking documents.

Armed FBI officers have arrested 21-year-old Jack Teixeira, a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard over the alleged leak of classified military intelligence online.

Video showed the suspect in handcuffs as he was marched by heavily-armed federal agents from a home in North Dighton, Massachusetts, wearing shorts and a t-shirt.

Joe Sommerlad and Graeme Massie report on what we know about the suspect:

As Russia continues to preside over the UN Security Council, Ukraine has said that the body has lost any “meaning”.

Ukraine’s national security and defence secretary Oleksii Danilov said in a Telegram post on Thursday that Russia’s presidency is “incompatible with any logic.”

“This institution (UN Security Council), currently chaired by Russia, with the norms and rules that were fixed after the Second World War, has already lost its meaning,” he said.

“It is no longer the influential institution whose decisions are binding for all countries. When an aggressor country, a terrorist country that killed and continues to kill children, is the chairman of the UN Security Council , then these things are generally incompatible with any logic, not to mention justice. Where is this justice then?”

Russia became the chair of the UN Security Council on 1 April and will hold the presidency for one month.

Senior officials from the United States, Europe and Britain met representatives of financial institutions to brief them on efforts by Russia to evade Western sanctions imposed over its invasion of Ukraine, a senior US Treasury official told reporters.

The firms indicated they were working hard to prevent Russian efforts to evade sanctions and export controls, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Western countries are ratcheting up their efforts to crack down on sanctions evasion efforts, the official said, noting Moscow was in a critical period where it needed not only weapons and electronics, but also smaller components to make ammunition.

FBI agents descended on the small town of Dighton, Massachussetts this afternoon to arrest a suspect in the investigation into a massive leak of sensitive government documents.

Jack Teixeira, the suspect, was detained.

Graeme Massie brings full coverage of Jack Teixeira’s arrest:

Armed FBI officers arrested a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard over the alleged leak of classified military intelligence online.

Authorities raided the Massachusetts home of 21-year-old Jack Teixeira, who worked in cyber security for the Guard and took him into custody without incident on Thursday.

A Facebook post last July from the 102nd Intelligence Wing, which is based at Otis Air National Guard Base on Cape Cod, congratulated someone by the name of Jack Teixeira for promotion to airman first class, reported The Washington Post.

The US intelligence community has been racing to track down the person who leaked scores of highly-classified documents online about the Ukraine war, and much else, a week after their existence was first revealed.

The so-called “Pentagon Papers”, widely shared and leaving many in Washington ashen-faced with embarrassment, have yet to be officially authenticated but appear to contain details on deeply sensitive matters pertaining to national security and foreign affairs.

The slides of photographed files that were made public include detailed battlefield maps from Russia’s war in Ukraine and the alarming suggestion that the US believes Kyiv will soon run out of missiles for its air defence systems, in addition to awkward revelations about America’s attitude towards many of its allies around the world, including the UK, South Korea, Egypt, Israel and the UAE.

Precisely how many documents were leaked is not known, with estimates varying from 50 into the hundreds.

Recently leaked documents from the Pentagon include a rumour that Russian President Vladimir Putin is undergoing chemotherapy (Ariana Baio writes).

The papers, labelled as “Top Secret”, also indicate that Russian Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov and Russian National Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev “devised” a plan to “sabotage” Mr Putin while he undergoes medical treatment.

The papers do not specify what alleged medical condition Mr Putin has that requires chemotherapy but there have been longstanding rumours that the Russian president has cancer.

The source’s name is redacted in the report and claims they received their information from an unidentified Russian source who has access to Kremlin officials.

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