Russian spies linked to Salisbury poison plot ‘paid Taliban bounties to kill UK and US troops’
- Unnamed intelligence alleged the GRU 29155 unit offered rewards for successful attacks last year
- Downing Street is believed to have received the intelligence report last week
- President Trump tweeted to say nobody had told him about the ‘so-called attacks’
The Taliban was paid bounties to kill British and American soldiers by the Russian intelligence unit that carried out the Salisbury poison attack, intelligence reports claim.
US officials came to the conclusion several months ago that the unit offered payments to militants for killing soldiers in Afghanistan.
Donald Trump has been accused of sitting on the knowledge and failing to take retaliatory action against Russia.
The unit identified by the officials has been linked to the 2018 poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in Britain.
The Taliban was paid bounties to kill British and American soldiers by the Russian intelligence unit that carried out the Salisbury poison attack, intelligence reports claim
The UK is said to have received the intelligence last week. Downing Street said it could not comment on intelligence matters.
President Trump has denied the claims that he ignored the briefings, tweeting: ‘Nobody briefed or told me… about the so-called attacks on our troops in Afghanistan by Russians.’
Unnamed intelligence sources told the New York Times they had concluded that the 29155 unit of the GRU, an arm of the Russian military intelligence agency, had offered rewards for successful attacks last year.
The newspaper said the President was briefed, and the National Security Council discussed the problem in March.
Sir Andrew Wood, Britain’s ambassador to Russia from 1995 to 2000, said the allegations – which have been denied by Russia and the Taliban – were ‘perfectly plausible’.
Donald Trump has been accused of sitting on the knowledge and failing to take retaliatory action against Russia