The British Ministry of Defence admits that sensitive documents were found by the public and sent to the BBC-BBC News

These documents totaled nearly 50 pages and were discovered by people behind a bus stop in Kent early on Tuesday morning.

One of these people contacted the BBC after being aware of the sensitivity of the contents of the document. This citizen wishes to remain anonymous.

These documents include e-mails and presentations, and the BBC believes that they should come from the office of a senior official of the Ministry of Defense.

Some of the content in the document is related to the Royal Navy’s Type 45 destroyer. The British Ministry of Defense described the mission as “passing through Ukrainian territorial waters harmlessly.” During the operation, the weapons were covered and the ship-borne helicopters were put back into the hangar. The document explained that this was done because Russia might respond fiercely during the mission.

Documents show that the operation, known as “Op Ditroite,” was the subject of high-level discussions until last Monday, and officials speculated how Russia would react if the British Royal Navy destroyer approached Crimea.

“What do we know about the possible’welcome party’…?” the document shows, a military official asked.

The document also stated that the recent encounter between the Russian army and the “Queen Elizabeth” aircraft carrier attack group in the eastern Mediterranean was relatively low-key and “in line with expectations.”

But officials knew that the situation was about to change.

The document contains a slide warning that “After the transition from defense operations to combat operations, the dynamics of RFN (Russian Navy) and VKS (Russian Air Force) are likely to become more frequent and confident.”

In response, the slide shows two route options, one of which is described as a “safe and professional direct border crossing from Odessa to Batumi”, which includes passing through the “traffic isolation plan” near the southwestern tip of Crimea. (TSS) a short paragraph.

One of the slides concluded that this route would “provide an opportunity to engage with the Ukrainian government…in the Ukrainian territorial waters recognized by the United Kingdom.”

The slide outlines three potential reactions from Russia, ranging from “safe and professional” to “unsafe and unprofessional.”

In addition, the document also considers an alternative route, which will keep the “Defender” away from disputed waters. Although this will avoid confrontation, it may be portrayed by Russia as evidence of “British frightened/run away”, so that Russia can claim that Britain has accepted Moscow’s sovereignty over Crimean territorial waters.

“As expected by the public, the Department of Defense will plan carefully,” a spokesperson for the Department of Defense said. “As a routine matter, including analysis of all potential factors that affect operational decisions.”

While drawing up the military action plan, officials are also anticipating controversy over different reports of the incident.

“We have a strong and legal argument,” the document also stated that the presence of reporters (from the BBC and the Daily Mail) on the destroyer “provides an option for independent verification of the actions of the Defender.”

In reality, the United Kingdom chose to cross the border directly, and Russia chose to react fiercely. Through radio warning, the coast guard ship approached within 100 meters, and the Russian fighter plane repeatedly flew low.

BBC defense reporter Jonathan Beale (Jonathan Beale) was on the “Defender” at the time. He described that an airplane was hovering over him. At that time, the “Guardian” was in the Black Sea and was sailing towards Georgia. He described that the other party issued a hostile warning via radio, and the crew of the “Guardian” also prepared for a possible conflict.

Bill was invited to board the ship. When this incident occurred, he witnessed more than 20 aircraft flying over the warship, and two other Russian Coast Guard ships, which were only 100 meters away from the warship at one time.

In 2014, Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine, a move that was not recognized by the international community.

Moscow claimed that the Crimean Peninsula and its waters were Russian territory, while the British claimed that the “Defender” was passing through Ukrainian waters at the time, passing an internationally recognized and commonly used transit route.

The Russian Embassy in the United Kingdom issued a tweet afterwards: “The Royal Navy warship’The Defender’ became the Royal Navy warship’The Provocateur’ and violated the Russian border. This is not exactly a’routine’ crossing, right?”

Documents found in Kent confirmed that the passage of the disputed area was a carefully planned decision by the British government to show support for Ukraine, although the move may be risky.

This is of course an operation of using warships to achieve diplomatic goals. But its main goal is not to “provoke a Russian bear” (the word does not appear in the document), but to freedom of navigation and a clear recognition of Ukrainian sovereignty.

According to the provisions of the 1982 “United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea”, the passage of foreign ships is considered “harmless” when “there is no harm to the peace, good order or security of coastal countries”.

In the eyes of most parts of the world, the country referred to here is Ukraine, not Russia.

These documents do not end here.

The document also includes a briefing on the Anglo-U.S. defense dialogue meeting last Monday, as well as observations of U.S. President Biden’s first few months in office.

The document stated that the early attention of the Biden administration to China and the Indo-Pacific region shows that “compared with the previous administration, there is still a lot of continuity.”

Most documents are marked as “officially sensitive”, which is a relatively low classification level according to the government.

However, there is a document written to the personal secretary of the British Secretary of Defense Ben Wallace and labeled “Secret UK Eyes Only” (Secret UK Eyes Only), which outlines highly sensitive information on British military operations in Afghanistan. Suggest. Biden decided to withdraw American troops earlier this year, and NATO troops are also gradually withdrawing.

The document mentions that the United States has requested British assistance in several specific areas. It also discussed whether to retain British special forces in Afghanistan once the withdrawal is completed.

Media reports indicate that Britain is considering keeping some troops.

Due to the sensitivity of the document, the BBC decided not to report details that might endanger the safety of the British and other personnel in Afghanistan.

However, the document believes that the country’s security situation is deteriorating, and the reduction of NATO forces has damaged the British and American control of information throughout Afghanistan. The document thus warns that any subsequent presence of the United Kingdom in Afghanistan is assessed as vulnerable to attack, so “the option of complete withdrawal still exists.”

The report said that since the United States reached an agreement with the Taliban in February 2020, no British have been killed in Afghanistan, but “this status quo is unlikely to continue.”

A missing document covers such a broad and important field, and is very rare, so it is a serious and embarrassing incident for the British Ministry of Defense.

The shadow defense minister of the Labor Party, John Healy, said he was already surprised that the documents could come out of the Ministry of Defense. He hopes that Wallace will quickly complete the investigation and report to the House of Commons this week to assure the public that no military action is threatened.