Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday that US allegations of Moscow supplying arms to Taliban militants in Afghanistan are unsubstantiated.
"As to statements about the alleged supply of arms by us to the Taliban, which we hear from the military in Washington and from the military that leads the US group in the region, including in Afghanistan - these are unprofessional statements and they are baseless,” said Lavrov.
General John Nicholson, head of US and international forces in Afghanistan on Monday answering questions about a Taliban bomb attack. /VCG Photo
The head of US and international forces in Afghanistan, General John Nicholson, said on Monday that he was "not refuting" reports that Russia was providing support, including weapons, to the Taliban. American officials have already complained about what Nicholson called Russia's "malign influence" in Afghanistan, but Monday's comments are among the strongest yet that Moscow is providing arms to militants.
Russia previously denied providing material or financial aid to the insurgent group, but said it maintains ties with Taliban officials in order to push through peace negotiations.
Also on Tuesday, Lavrov met with Chief for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Lamberto Zannier, in Moscow. He denounced the land mine blast that killed an OSCE observer in eastern Ukraine as a "cynical act", and criticized Ukraine for not adhering to the Minsk Agreement.
"We began with the unilateral denunciation of this cynical act which brought about the death of an OSCE observer, a citizen of the United States. Nothing that the Ukrainian side was obliged to do, has been done and they have given different excuses. Any incident, long before any attempt is made to properly study it, is immediately used to take attention away from the Minsk Agreement,” said Lavrov.
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