U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the United States must immediately impose sanctions on Russia over reports that Moscow offered Taliban militants money to kill U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.
"We must institute sanctions against Russia and we must do it right away," Pelosi said in an interview with MSNBC.
Her comments echoed those of Senator Bob Menendez, in which he called for sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and other top officials in the country over allegations in media reports that Moscow offered reward money for the Taliban to kill U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.
The U.S. Department of Defence has repeatedly noted there is no information to confirm Friday's Nytimes.com article in which the bounty allegations were sparked. U.S. President Donald Trump dismissed claims that he was informed on unverified intelligence on the matter, insisting that "it didn't rise to that level" and suggesting that a "secret source" cited by the New York Times "probably does not even exist".
The allegations have been denied on all sides, with the Kremlin slamming the reports as "nonsense" and the Taliban refuting them while noting that its actions are not related to foreign intelligence agencies or governments.
