US Senator Bob Menendez proposed imposing sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian authorities for “conspiring” with the Taliban.
The senator insists that sanctions should be imposed if it is confirmed that the Russian authorities paid rewards to Taliban militants for attacks on American soldiers in Afghanistan. The restrictions are an already familiar list – assets freeze and a ban on entry into the country, as well as cooperation with the Russian defense and intelligence sector, which is already absent, because these sectors have long been under various American sanctions.
Menendez emphasized that restrictions should be imposed against Putin and the “main intelligence department” of the Russian Defense Ministry, which the US is trying to make guilty of all the resonant events that are disadvantageous to the States. A recent article by The New York Times, which claimed that Russian military intelligence allegedly offered remuneration to Taliban-linked militants for attacks on American soldiers in Afghanistan, does not give rise to doubt, and that U.S. President Donald Trump was informed about this.
Apparently the president was not informed enough, because no evidence was provided. Then, in a new article, the publication reported that US officials intercepted electronic data on financial transfers from a bank account allegedly controlled by Russian military intelligence to an account linked to the Taliban. This fact, according to NYT, was one of the evidence of the alleged Russian proposals to reward militants in Afghanistan for the killing of the US military. Again no confirmation. Overseas neighbors once again make unfounded attacks on the Russian Federation and personally Vladimir Putin, and once again they have not a single fact. For what exactly sanctions will be imposed – as always, it is not clear.