Russia denies paying Afghan militants for attacks
Russia has rejected seeing as "baseless" accusations that it offered Taliban-linked militants rewards to kill US and other Nato troops in Afghanistan.
The New York Times and Washington Post cited US officials as saying a Russian military intelligence unit linked to assassination attempts in Europe had offered the alleged bounties last year.
The Russian embassy in america said the claims had resulted in threats to diplomats.
The Taliban also denied there is any such manage Russian intelligence.
The reports arrive as the united states attempts to negotiate a peace offer to end the 19-year war in Afghanistan.
According to the NY Occasions, President Donald Trump was briefed upon the reports in March, however the White Property has denied this.
"Neither the president nor the vice-president had been briefed on the alleged Russian bounty intelligence," said White Residence press secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Saturday night.
However, she added, "this does not talk with the merit of the alleged intelligence but to the inaccuracy of THE BRAND NEW York Times history erroneously suggesting that President Trump was briefed upon this matter."
The unnamed officials cited by the New York Circumstances said US intelligence agencies had concluded months ago a unit of Russia's GRU military intelligence agency had sought to destabilise its adversaries by covertly offering bounties for effective attacks on coalition forces.
Islamist militants, or perhaps armed criminal components closely connected with them, were thought to have collected some cash, the newspaper said.
In some Twitter articles, the Russian embassy in america accused the paper of promoting fake news.
Twenty American troops died in Afghanistan in 2019, but the NY Times said it was not yet determined which deaths were under suspicion.
The officials quoted simply by the New York Times said the White colored House's National Protection Council had considered how exactly to respond, including imposing an escalating raft of sanctions against Russia.
The GRU unit allegedly involved has also been linked to the attempted murder of former Russian twice agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia with a nerve agent in Salisbury, England, in March 2018.
A good spokesman for the Taliban also known as the accusations baseless.
"Our goal killings and assassinations had been ongoing in years before, and we achieved it on our own methods," Zabihullah Mujahid told the New York Times.
He added that the Taliban had stopped attacking US and Nato forces after they agreed in February to a good phased troop withdrawal and lift sanctions. In return, the Taliban said they would not allow extremist groups to operate in areas they control.
