MOSCOW. June 30 (Interfax) - Reports alleging that Russia colluded with the Taliban in Afghanistan in order to facilitate attacks on U.S. soldiers are fake and are being used to hinder incumbent President Donald Trump's reelection, Russian Federation Council Foreign Affairs Committee first deputy head Vladimir Dzhabarov said.
"I think this is yet another fake story. It seems to me that the Americans see no limits in their domestic political rivalry and attempt to use any situation to attain their domestic political objectives in light of the approaching election. As nobody has confirmed that this information is true, it's turned out to be fake," Dzhabarov told Interfax on Tuesday.
The media has been dragged into this rivalry, Dzhabarov said. "They're trying to depose Trump at any cost, so that the Republicans lose to the Democrats in the [presidential] election," he said.
"In any army around the world, an officer's honor would never allow soldiers from one country to induce terrorists from another country to kill representatives of yet another one. What's more, when we worked with the Americans in Syria, on the contrary, we helped the Americans in times of need, and the Americans helped us," Dzhabarov said.
The New York Times reported earlier, citing unnamed U.S. officials, that Russian military security services offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants for killing U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan amid negotiations on a peaceful settlement of the conflict.