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A Biden administration official said that US intelligence only has "low to moderate confidence" in prior claims that Russia offered to pay bounties to militants for killing American troops.
The New York Times last year reported that American intelligence found that Russian operatives offered the bounties to Taliban-linked militants — a conclusion military officials laterdisputed.
"The United States intelligence community assesses with low to moderate confidence that Russian intelligence officers sought to encourage Taliban attacks on US and coalition personnel in Afghanistan in 2019 and perhaps earlier," a senior administration official told The Daily Beast. "This information puts a burden on the Russian government to explain its actions and take steps to address this disturbing pattern of behavior."
The Biden Administration's sanctions against Russia announced on Thursday were not tied to the supposed bounties, a senior administration official told reporters, including The Daily Beast.
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