{"id":73010,"date":"2020-07-12T15:52:08","date_gmt":"2020-07-12T15:52:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/07\/12\/russias-foreign-minister-mocks-intel-on-bounties-to-taliban-for-killing-american-troops\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T14:18:38","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T14:18:38","slug":"russias-foreign-minister-mocks-intel-on-bounties-to-taliban-for-killing-american-troops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/flashpoints\/2020\/07\/12\/russias-foreign-minister-mocks-intel-on-bounties-to-taliban-for-killing-american-troops\/","title":{"rendered":"Russia\u2019s foreign minister mocks intel on bounties to Taliban for killing American troops"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">MOSCOW \u2014 Russia\u2019s top diplomat on Friday dismissed U.S. intelligence information alleging that Moscow offered bounties to the Taliban for killing American troops as a product of election year politics in Washington. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">U.S. intelligence officials said information about Russia\u2019s alleged bounties on the heads of troops in Afghanistan was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2020\/07\/02\/only-verified-intelligence-a-look-at-presidents-briefings\/\" target=_blank>included in an intelligence brief<\/a> for President Donald <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2020\/06\/29\/white-house-aware-in-2019-of-russian-bounties-on-american-troops-in-afghanistan-officials-say\/\" target=_blank>Trump in late February<\/a>. The White House has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2020\/07\/01\/trump-calls-reports-of-russian-bounties-on-us-troops-a-hoax\/\" target=_blank>denied Trump received the information<\/a> at that time, arguing that the intelligence wasn\u2019t credible enough to bring to the president\u2019s attention. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov dismissed the intelligence claims as a sham. The intelligence assessments that Russia offered bounties were first reported by The New York Times, then confirmed to The Associated Press by American intelligence officials and others with knowledge of the matter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere has been a hype in the United States over speculation on alleged ties between Russia and the Taliban and our alleged push on them to fight against U.S. servicemen or even a reward for their heads,\u201d Lavrov said during a videoconference on foreign policy issues. \u201cI can only say that the entire thing has hinged on unscrupulous speculations, and no concrete facts have been presented whatsoever.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/your-military\/2020\/07\/09\/secdef-tells-lawmakers-hes-not-convinced-russia-offered-taliban-bounties-to-kill-us-troops\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"197\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP20182099560895.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Esper tells lawmakers he\u2019s not convinced Russia offered Taliban bounties to kill US troops<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Defense Secretary Mark Esper, and his top military adviser, say they cannot corroborate reports that Russia has paid bounties to Taliban fighters targeting U.S. troops.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He charged that the intelligence claims were floated to hurt the Trump administration before the U.S. presidential election in November. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe entire story looks like it has been written and designed specifically for the purpose of the domestic political struggle in the run-up to the election,\u201d he said. \u201cOnce again, they\u2019re trying to attack the incumbent administration and discredit everything it\u2019s doing, especially on the Russian track.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/your-military\/2020\/07\/07\/top-us-general-in-the-middle-east-skeptical-that-russian-bounties-led-to-troops-deaths\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP20031434250955.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Top US general in the Middle East skeptical that Russian bounties led to troops\u2019 deaths<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The top U.S. general for the Middle East said Tuesday that the intelligence suggesting that Russia may have paid Taliban militants to kill American troops in Afghanistan was worrisome, but he is not convinced that any bounties resulted in U.S. military deaths.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lavrov noted that Russia welcomed a February peace deal between the U.S. and the Taliban aimed at ending the protracted war in Afghanistan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe have provided assistance via our channels to help this agreement work,\u201d the Russian foreign minister said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Top Pentagon leaders told U.S. Congress on Thursday that reports of Russia offering Taliban militants bounties for killing Americans weren\u2019t corroborated by defense intelligence agencies, but said they are looking into it and the U.S. will respond if necessary. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said that the threats were taken seriously, but haven\u2019t yet been found credible. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Russia\u2019s top diplomat on Friday dismissed U.S. intelligence information alleging that Moscow offered bounties to the Taliban for killing American soldiers as a product of election year politics in Washington.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":104499,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":8,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[100,8,23,93,12,25,68],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1350],"class_list":["post-73010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-flashpoints","category-home","category-middle-column","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pentagon-congress"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"VHNAOYXEENCJRIVJPLNGSEABIY","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-military\/2020\/07\/12\/russias-foreign-minister-mocks-intel-on-bounties-to-taliban-for-killing-american-troops\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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