Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his counterparts in (a) Russia and (b) the US on reports that the Russian Government allegedly offered to pay bounties to Taliban-linked fighters to kill US and UK troops in Afghanistan.

We do not comment on intelligence matters. We regularly discuss with NATO allies our responses to potential threats from Russia and as fellow Permanent Members of the UN Security Council, we engage directly with Russia on matters of international peace and security, including Afghanistan.