Russia and the U.S. have established a regular dialogue on Afghanistan, which could have bothered certain political circles in Washington, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev opined in his interview for Argumenty i Fakty weekly, commenting on publications on the bounties on US servicemen that Russia allegedly offered to Afghan militants.
Patrushev noted that the U.S. Administration repeatedly imposed sanctions against Russia "based on fake news."
"Now their media has suddenly latched on to Afghanistan, which our countries have established a regular dialogue on; apparently, this fact bothered certain political circles," Patrushev said.
"Russian and American intelligence services cooperate on a wide array of fields. Countering terrorism is a field where we have concrete practical results," TASS cited Patrushev as saying.
In this regard, he continued, any allegations that Russia conspired with the Taliban militants, especially in a bid to assassinate U.S. servicemen, are baseless.
"I would like to believe that in the future, U.S. media would take their publications more responsibly and will not provoke additional tensions between Moscow and Washington. We can only hope that the U.S. political circles will settle their internal issues without trying to win electoral score at Russia’s expense," the secretary said.
"Such unfriendly lunge in our direction would barely facilitate the restoration of the atmosphere of trust, which both Moscow and Washington have been proclaiming for several years already," the secretary underscored.
