One of the administrators of the pro-Russian English-language Telegram channel Donbass Devushka was a former US Navy officer Sarah Beals. It was in this channel that leaked Pentagon documents first appeared in Telegram.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) writes about it.
After the documents appeared in this channel, they began to spread in the pro-Russian segment — and thatʼs when the Western media first drew attention to them. In addition, one of the documents published on the Donbass Devushka channel was redacted. On it, Russian losses were significantly underestimated and Ukrainian losses were overestimated.
Sarah Beals herself confirmed that she was one of the 15 administrators of this channel. But she assures that the publication with the merged documents was published by another administrator. This post has now been removed from the channel.
Sarah Beals served in the US Navy until November 2022 and most likely did not have access to classified information. She was an avionics technician.
The Donbass Devushka Telegram channel has more than 65 000 subscribers. It is allegedly conducted on behalf of a "girl from Donbas" who supports Russia. Russian propaganda, various podcasts with guests who support Russia and oppose aid to Ukraine are published there.
Sarah Beals stated she left the military on medical grounds after suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. At the same time, she was released with a lower rank than she received during her service. As her former colleague Rachel Stevens told reporters, people with such a position and title as Beals have access to top secret information.
- On April 6, it became known that classified military documents related to the counteroffensive of the Defense Forces of Ukraine in the war against Russia were published on social networks (Twitter and Telegram), and on April 7, it became known that a second batch of secret documents of the American authorities was published online. They are talking not only about Ukraine, but also about the activities of the USA in the Indo-Pacific region, in the Middle East, actions to fight terrorism and rivalry with China.
- On April 9, Bellingcat reported that documents from the Pentagon began to appear on the Internet as early as January 2023 on some Discord servers where video game fans chatted.
- On April 10, the Pentagon confirmed that due to the leak of documents, "very sensitive secret" information became public. On April 13, the FBI arrested 21-year-old Jack Teixeira, a suspect in the leak of classified Pentagon data.