https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_bounty_program
Main articles: War in Afghanistan (2001–present) and Russia–United States relations
In 2010, Iran reportedly paid Taliban fighters $1,000 for each U.S. soldier they kill in Afghanistan.[2] U.S. and British officials have accused Iran of giving support and weapons to the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan.[3][4] In August 2019, The Washington Post reported that Iran's "relationship with the Taliban now spans the economic, security and political realms and is likely to grow as the Taliban asserts itself again."[5] Pakistan was also accused of supporting Taliban.[6][7]
Russia initially supported the United States' War on Terror and agreed to provide logistic support for the United States forces in Afghanistan. In May 2015, Russia closed a key military transport corridor which allowed NATO to deliver military supplies to Afghanistan through the Russian territory.[8] Intelligence reports that Russia supplies arms to the Taliban have persisted for several years with contact in Northern Afghanistan beginning around 2015.[9] Security officials from the United States and Afghanistan have previously determined that Russia provides financial support and arms to the Taliban and its leaders.[10][11] Russian government officials have called the accusations baseless.[11] Carter Malkasian, a former adviser to US military commanders in Afghanistan, said that Russia began cultivating relationships with "certain Taliban elements" in northern Afghanistan around 2015, ostensibly as a response to Islamic State activity.[9] According to the BBC, Russia "is deeply concerned about the rise of Islamist fundamentalism in the region spreading in its direction. And it sees the Taliban as one potential bulwark against this."[12] In February and again in May 2019, a delegation of Taliban officials and senior Afghan politicians met in Moscow to hold a new round of Afghan peace talks.[13][14] Reuters reported that "Russian officials as well as religious leaders and elders had asked for a ceasefire."[15]
Unit 29155 is a covert unit of the GRU tasked with foreign assassinations and other covert activities. The unit has been linked to the 2016 Montenegrin coup plot, the poisoning of Bulgarian arms manufacturer Emilian Gebrev, and the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal.[16]