バス停に英国防省の機密文書　民間人が発見

【ロンドンＡＦＰ＝時事】英政府は２７日、国防省の機密文書が南東部ケント州のバス停で発見された経緯について、現在調査していると発表した。英ＢＢＣによると、５０ページに及ぶ文書は２２日、バス停に放置されているのを匿名希望の民間人が見つけた。（写真は資料写真）
　国防省は、先週のうちに職員から文書を紛失したと報告を受け、調査を開始したとしている。
　ブランドン・ルイス北アイルランド相は２７日、英スカイニューズに「あってはならないことだ」と述べた上で、問題は発生直後に「きちんと」報告され、内部調査が始まったと説明した。
　ＢＢＣによれば機密文書には、英駆逐艦「ディフェンダー」が２３日にクリミア半島沖のウクライナ領海を航行したことに関連し、ロシアの反応についての事前議論の内容が記されていた。
　文書によると英当局者は、駆逐艦の航行ルートがクリミアを併合したロシアの反発を招く可能性があることを認識していたが、別のルートを取ればロシア政府から「英国は恐れている、逃げている」と受けとめられると考えたとみられる。また、英国がウクライナ領海とみなしているクリミア半島沖を航行することで、「ウクライナ政府と連携する機会が生まれる」と判断したとされる。
　バス停で見つかった別の文書には、アフガニスタンにおける北大西洋条約機構（ＮＡＴＯ）の活動終了後に想定される英国軍の活動計画が記載されていたという。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】

〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/06/29-13:51）

Britain's government said Sunday it was investigating how secret defence documents, outlining the movements of a warship that led to Russia firing warning shots off the Crimean coast, were found at a bus stop in England.
The Ministry of Defence said that an employee told it last week that the documents had been lost, and that an investigation had been launched.
It shouldn't be able to happen, Brandon Lewis, minister for Northern Ireland, told Sky News on Sunday.
It was properly reported at the time... there's an internal investigation into that situation.
An anonymous member of the public told the BBC they found 50 pages of classified information behind a bus stop in Kent, southern England, on Tuesday.
The papers discussed the possible Russian reaction to Britain's HMS Defender travelling through Ukrainian waters off the coast of Crimea on Wednesday, the BBC reported.
Russia on Wednesday said it fired warning shots at the navy destroyer in the Black Sea after what it said was a violation of its territorial waters.
Britain however said it was making an innocent passage through Ukrainian territorial waters in accordance with international law.
According to Moscow, the incident took place off the coast of Cape Fiolent on Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014 in a move that the vast majority of the international community has not recognised.
The documents appear to show that the British officials knew the route could lead to a possible reaction from the Russians, but that taking an alternative passage could be considered by Moscow as the UK being scared/running away.
The route it did take would instead provide an opportunity to engage with the Ukrainian government... in what the UK recognises as Ukrainian territorial waters, said another document.
Russia's foreign ministry on Thursday summoned the British ambassador to strongly protest the incident.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described it as a deliberate and prepared provocation.
Russia's defence ministry said warning shots were fired and bombs dropped along the path of the HMS Defender.
Among the other documents found at the bus stop were those that laid out plans for possible British military presence in Afghanistan after the end of NATO operations there.