Rahmatullah Azizi, born in 1978, was a prominent figure in the Azizi family and a suspect identified by the Afghan Afghan National Directorate of Security (NDS) for organizing the reward scheme. Unlike other family members, he escaped arrest by fleeing to Russia before the 2019 operation was exposed.
Azizi and other couriers reportedly received GRU-issued passports and frequently traveled between Russia and Afghanistan. The report also implicates senior GRU officers such as General Ivan Kasyanenko and Colonel Aleksei Arkhipov. The allegations align with past intelligence leaks, including a 2020 US report on Russia’s covert rewards program for Taliban attacks.Related:
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