A former American Navy officer has been connected to a Russian propaganda website that purports to disseminate false information on the conflict in Ukraine.
According to reports, the website was instrumental in disseminating intelligence files that were purportedly exposed by US Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira.
Who is former Navy officer Sarah Bils?
Until the end of 2022, Sarah Bils, a former US Navy officer, worked at the US Naval Air Station on Whidbey Island in Washington.
She was an aircraft electronics technician in the Navy.
Bils moved from New Jersey to Oak Harbour, Washington, after leaving his native state.
She is well-known for her work as a podcaster outside of her time in the military.
Until the end of 2022, Sarah Bils, a former US Navy officer, worked at the US Naval Air Station on Whidbey Island in Washington.
She was an aircraft electronics technician in the Navy.
Bils moved from New Jersey to Oak Harbour, Washington, after leaving his native state.
She is well-known for her work as a podcaster outside of her time in the military.
A well-known blog and podcast called Donbass Devushka is well-known for extolling the Russian military and disseminating false information.
The social media account was implicated in the April 2023 dissemination of stolen intelligence reports that included details about the conflict in the Ukraine and China, among other topics.
The Wall Street Journal identified the blogger, who claimed to be a Russian lady from Luhansk, as Bils, a resident of New Jersey.
According to reports, Donbass Devushka re-posted the stolen data on several internet chat groups.
“Some very interesting potential intel,” the account posted on April 5 alongside four files, via the WSJ.
During an interview with the WSJ, Bils claimed that she was one of 15 people “all over the world” who are involved in running the Donbass Devushka blog, however, she did not identify the other members.
While Bils might’ve reposted the documents, there is no evidence that she stole any classified materials herself, the WSJ notes.
“I obviously know the gravity of top-secret classified materials. We didn’t leak them,” she told the outlet.
The sensitive material in the stolen documents, which were circulated on Twitter, Telegram, and Discord, relates to the assistance that the US is giving Ukraine in the midst of its conflict with Russia.
The documents outline US and NATO plans to assist Ukraine in getting ready for a spring attack against Russia and claim China has fired a hypersonic missile at 6,500 mph in secret that might outrun US defenses.
They also claimed that Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, is receiving chemotherapy, and they provided evidence that a British spy plane narrowly evaded being shot down by Russian missiles.
According to Bellingcat, three former users said that several papers had been shared on the now-defunct Discord server where the breach was first discovered.
Teixeira was apprehended and charged with one count of “unauthorised retention and transmission of national defence information” and one count of “unauthorised removal and retention of classified documents or material,” according to the BBC, after he was identified by The New York Times.
