Reposts have surfaced that shows Russian intelligence operatives in Afganistan had offered Taliban soldiers a ‘bounty’ to kill British and American troops. President Trump has attacked the story today, calling it “fake news”.
In recent days, It was alleged the President knew about the Russian plot in 2019 but did not act on the information. Trump’s team attempted to distance him from any knowledge of the plan, insisting he had not been personally informed. However, CNN and AP reported that Trump received the intelligence in a written briefing this year.
It is speculated that Trump has not been reading his written briefings; opting instead for oral briefings with intelligence officials.
The New York Times, who exposed the story, quoted ‘unnamed US Officials’; who had briefed journalists on the 2019 Afganistan plot. The source said that a ‘Russian military unit’ had offered Taliban soldiers bounties to kill UK and US troops. That year 20 American troops died in Afganistan, however, no link could be made to the plot.
Following days deflection, President Trump decided to fight the story by telling people it never happened. Fake news! However, 2-days ago the President told reporters that he simply not been told of the plot because his advisors did not think it was ‘credible’. Today, Trump was adamant that the Russian story was “fake news”, designed to derail his 2020 presidential campaign.
The report alleges the plot was undertaken by the ‘29155 unit’ of the ‘GRU’, a branch of Russia’s ‘military intelligence agency’. In the UK, the GRU’s 29155 Unit has been accused of the attempted assassination of Sergei Skripal; and the killing Dawn Sturgess. Sturgess died after coming in contact with the bottle of Novichok used in Sainsbury’s Skripal poisoning, in march 2018.
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