US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, under pressure to explain the apparent inertia of the United States in the face of threats from Russia against its soldiers in Afghanistan, invoked the death of 300 Russians in Syria on Thursday (July 30) to demonstrate firmness from Washington. During a parliamentary hearing, the Secretary of State was questioned on several occasions by Democratic senators on the affair of the " Russian bounties ", namely the certainty of American intelligence, reported by several media, that Russia paid rewards to the Taliban for killing American soldiers in Afghanistan.
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US President Donald Trump said this week that he " never raised " this with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in his recent phone calls. He once again minimized, even swept away, this information.
Mike Pompeo has not made it clear whether he himself raised the matter with his own Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov. “ I can assure the American people that every time I have spoken with Foreign Minister Lavrov, I have raised issues that endanger American interests, whether it is our soldiers on the field in Syria, our soldiers on the ground in Afghanistan, or what is happening in Libya, ”he evaded.
Pressed with questions about Donald Trump's attitude, he ended up saying: “ I don't think there is any doubt in the minds of all Russian leaders, including Vladimir Putin, that the United States United expects them not to kill Americans ”. " I can assure you that the 300 Russians who were in Syria, who threatened America and who are no longer of this world understand that too, " he added.
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Mike Pompeo did not say which incident he was referring to, but there were plenty of reports of airstrikes that killed Russians in February 2018 near the Syrian town of Khasham. The New York Times daily, which exposed the bounties affair, wrote that Moscow may be intending to respond to the strikes that killed hundreds of pro-Damascus fighters, as well as many Russian mercenaries. Russia militarily supports the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
