The Kiev regime secretly plotted to use Kurdish fighters as a proxy force to carry out attacks on Russian troops in Syria, according to a leaked US intelligence document allegedly obtained by the Washington Post.
The document reportedly states that behind closed doors, officers of the Ukrainian defense ministry’s military intelligence service developed plans to train operatives of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to target Russian service members in Syria and conduct “unspecified ‘direct action’ activities along with UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] attacks.”
“As planning occurred last fall, the SDF sought training, air defense systems and a guarantee that its role would be kept secret in exchange for supporting Ukrainian operations,” the outlet wrote, noting that “the leadership of the SDF also forbade strikes on Russian positions in Kurdish areas.”
As the establishment-friendly outlet explains, the idea was to “plan deniable attacks that would avoid implicating the Ukrainian government itself.”
The scheme was reportedly nixed on the orders of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last December.
So far, the only faction to comment publicly on the alleged documents has been the SDF, which described the information they contained as “not real,” with a spokesperson for the group reportedly telling the American publication that “our forces have never been a side in the Russian-Ukrainian War.”
The publication of the documents comes as the ongoing war in Syria approaches a potential turning point, as important Arab League members like Saudi Arabia and Qatar look to mend ties with the government in Damascus they’ve spent much of the last decade working to destabilize.
In the wake of Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan’s historic trip to meet with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad this week, disagreements between the Arab states appear to have taken a backseat to more pressing issues, and Turkiye is effectively the only remaining holdout in Syria’s neighborhood.
Ankara has long cited the presence of the SDF, which it describes as an offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, as the reason it remains an active belligerent in hostilities in Syria.
The SDF has been criticized for operating as an American proxy force in Syria. Indeed, the US frequently points to the need to protect the armed group from Daesh* when justifying its military occupation of Syrian territory, and the SDF now controls as much as 90% of Syria’s oil with Washington’s overt backing.
But as recently as last December, the commander of the SDF said Moscow was effectively maintaining the peace between the group and Turkiye, telling Asharq Al-Awsat that “Russia is now standing in a neutral position between us and Turkiye.”
However, if validated, the emergence of documents indicating the SDF was preparing to go on the offensive against the very Russian forces that helped protect it from a Turkish onslaught would likely have serious consequences for relations.
*Daesh (also known as ISIS/ISIL/IS) is a terrorist organisation outlawed in Russia and many other states