Senate Democrats introduced a bill yesterday to force the President to certify that Russia is not paying or has not paid bounties to the Taliban to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan. The bill would require President Donald Trump to certify if Moscow “offered, ordered, directed, or was otherwise responsible for bounties” for the killing of coalition troops, reported Newsmax. If Trump does, he must then impose sanctions on President Vladimir Putin “or any person acting for or on behalf of him” as well as any Russian government, defense or intelligence official involved in the efforts, according to the bill.
The backers of the legislation include ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Sen. Bob Menendez as well as Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, Dick Durbin, Richard Blumenthal, Jeff Merkley, and Tammy Duckworth. They said they wanted to introduce the bill in response to the “Trump Administration’s failure” to respond to reports of attempts from Moscow to pay militants in Afghanistan to kill coalition troops stationed there, according to a press release. President Trump has rejected these “reports” as fake news, and in fact, no hard evidence that the Russians were engaged in such activities in Afghanistan has ever emerged, but the reports have served as political fodder for the Democrats.
The ‘‘Russia Bounty Response Act of 2020’’ bill likely has no chance of moving in the current Congress, but gives an indication of intent should the Democrats gain control of the Senate as a result of the November election.
