Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Friday that domestic politics within the U.S. is fueling reports that Moscow had offered bounties to Taliban soldiers to kill American troops in Afghanistan.
His comments come just one day after a top U.S. general told a congressional panel that Russia has been meddling in Afghanistan for years and has been sending weapons supplies to the Taliban.
Mr. Lavrov rejected the U.S. assertions that Moscow has placed bounties on American soldiers and instead pointed to internal politics within the Trump administration that has caused “unscrupulous speculation” of Moscow’s relationship with Taliban militants, Interfax news agency quoted him as saying.
Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Thursday that the U.S. may not be doing enough to deter Russian aggression, but “there is a distinction between arming and directing.”
The four-star general said that while there is not enough direct evidence to prove that a Russian bounty program is causing U.S. casualties, “we are still looking. We’re not done. We’re going to run this thing to the ground.”
• Lauren Toms can be reached at lmeier@washingtontimes.com.
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