Russian Bounties Believed to Have Led to at Least 1 US Troop Death, Say Reports

The Submit stated the intelligence stemmed from U.S. army interrogations of captured militants and used to be handed up from U.S. Particular Operations forces in Afghanistan.

One at a time, the New York Instances reported U.S. intelligence officers consider no less than one American army demise stemmed from the bounties, mentioning two officers briefed at the topic. Reuters may just no longer in an instant ascertain the reviews.

The newspaper articles drew outrage from Trump critics who argued it could had been unconscionable for the Republican president to have identified of a Russian effort to kill American servicemen whilst looking for to support family members with Moscow.

Trump sought to forged doubt at the Russian bounty effort, announcing on Sunday he used to be by no means briefed at the topic and that U.S. intelligence officers informed him it used to be for the reason that data used to be no longer credible.

A document at the Russian program by way of the New York Instances on Friday cited unnamed officers as announcing the intelligence discovering used to be briefed to Trump and the Nationwide Safety Council mentioned the issue at an interagency assembly in overdue March.

The Kremlin on Monday flatly denied the bounty document.

“Those allegations are lies,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov informed journalists, including that Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin had by no means mentioned the allegations.

The US has lately accused Russia of perhaps offering fortify, together with guns, to parts of the Taliban. However U.S. army officers have by no means publicly accused Moscow of placing bounties at the heads of U.S. infantrymen or coalition forces.

DEMOCRATS DEMAND ANSWERS

4 U.S. govt resources aware of intelligence reporting and research showed to Reuters the life of categorised U.S. intelligence reviews alleging Russian army intelligence unit had introduced bounties to Taliban-linked militants to kill U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan.

The resources indicated U.S. govt companies and mavens on steadiness believed the intelligence reporting to be credible. The resources didn’t ascertain Trump’s assertions that intelligence companies had one way or the other declared the reporting used to be no longer credible.

Speaker of the U.S. Space of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Chief Chuck Schumer, each Democrats, on Monday demanded the highest two U.S. intelligence officers supply a right away briefing for lawmakers.

“Congress and the rustic want solutions now. I due to this fact request an interagency transient for all Space Individuals in an instant,” Pelosi wrote in a letter to Director of Nationwide Intelligence John Ratcliffe and CIA Director Gina Haspel.

White Space spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany informed Fox Information that participants of Congress can be briefed at the topic on Monday.

Alternatively, aides to congressional and committee leaders stated no briefing had but been scheduled.

The New York Instances and the Related Press additionally reported US army and intelligence officers have been reviewing previous casualties to peer whether or not they have been tied to Moscow’s alleged bills.

One incident beneath assessment used to be an April 2019 assault by way of the Taliban on an American convoy that killed 3 US Marines, the AP stated, mentioning unidentified resources. Officers have been additionally probing whether or not $500,000 discovered all over a U.S. raid on a Taliban outpost previous this yr used to be tied to this system, it added.

Reuters may just no longer in an instant ascertain those reviews.