Estonian FM: Maidan snipers were with the opposition

16H00 UPDATE: Both the Estonian Foreign Ministry and Olga Bogolomets have denied that she implicated the opposition in the sniper attacks in Kiev.

Russia Today (not generally a news source in which I would have a lot of confidence) has tweeted a story a link to a story, which appears to contain a genuine leaked telephone conversation in which the Estonian Foreign Minister tells the EU's foreign policy chief, Cathy Ashton, that Olga Bogomolets that it was the same snipers in Kiev who shot both protesters and police (jump to 8:22 for the relevant snippet).

Behind the snipers was not Yanukovich, but somebody from the new coalition.

It is pretty amazing that what appears to be a genuine phone conversation has been leaked.

Who would do so and why?  My guess is that it is a pretty underhand attempt to pushback on Washington's attempts to implement tough sanctions on Russia that would have an extremely detrimental effect on a number of European economies, Estonia's included.

And then, of course, there's the possibility that it was Russian intelligence.

What's certain, however, is that the (mis-)information war is heating up.

BREAKING: Estonian Foreign Ministry confirms authenticity of leaked call on #Kiev snipers http://t.co/RLfLl3x4CG pic.twitter.com/m9UJXJBdUG
— RT (@RT_com) March 5, 2014

Leaked tape of Estonian Foreign Minister & the EU's Catherine Ashton claimed by "Officers of SBU loyal to the ousted President Yanukovich."
— Kevin Rothrock (@KevinRothrock) March 5, 2014

Warning: some of the footage attached to the telephone conversation is graphic.