US House intelligence panel chairman calls for Russia sanctions after bounty briefing

The United States should weigh new sanctions on Russia in response to unfounded reports that a Russian military intelligence unit had offered Taliban-linked militants bounties to kill American troops in Afghanistan. 

Senior Democratic lawmaker Adam Schiff said on Tuesday after a White House briefing on the reported Russian effort to pay the Taliban to kill US soldiers in Afghanistan that sanctions were necessary to deter Moscow's "malign" actions.

Schiff, who is chairman of the House Intelligence committee, said forbade US President Donald Trump from courting Russia's leader Vladimir Putin by inviting him to a Group of Seven (G7) summit of leading industrial nations.

"The president of the United States should not be inviting Russia into the G7 or G8. We should be considering what sanctions are appropriate to further deter Russia's malign activities," he told reporters after the White House briefing on the matter.

Trump: No briefings ever on Russian bounties to kill US troops in Afghanistan

US President Trump has denied a report that he was briefed on an alleged Russian effort to pay bounties to Taliban-linked militants to kill Western forces in Afghanistan.

The White House has sought to play down reports published in the New York Times and the Washington Post this week that it knew about accusations that
Russia paid the Taliban bounties to kill US and other coalition troops but had not briefed Trump or moved on the information.

The matter has raised serious concerns among both Trump's fellow Republicans and Democrats not only about the safety of US forces but also about the administration's handling of the matter.

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