MOSCOW – Russia has rejected comments by NATO’s top commander inAfghanistan that it has been supporting and even supplying weapons to theTaliban, in a clash of words that underlines growing tension over Moscow’sinvolvement in the conflict.

In an interview with the BBC last week, General John Nicholson said thatRussia had been acting to undermine US efforts in Afghanistan despiteshared interests in fighting terrorism and narcotics, with indications thatMoscow was providing financial support and even arms.

“We’ve had weapons brought to this headquarters and given to us by Afghanleaders and said this was given by the Russians to the Taliban,” he said.

A statement from the Russian embassy in Kabul dismissed the comments as”idle gossip”, repeating previous denials by Russian officials.

“Once again, we insist that such statements are absolutely baseless andappeal to officials not to talk nonsense,” the embassy said.

U.S. commanders, including Nicholson, have said on several occasions overthe past year that Russia may be supplying arms to the Taliban although noconfirmed evidence has so far been made public.

However, Nicholson’s comments were unusually blunt and came in a context ofgrowing tensions between NATO members and Moscow over the case of SergeiSkripal, a former intelligence agent found poisoned with a rare nerve agentin Britain.

Russian officials have said that their limited contacts with the Talibanwere aimed at encouraging peace talks and ensuring the safety of Russiancitizens. Moscow has offered to help coordinate peace talks in Afghanistan.

Taliban officials have told Reuters that the group has had significantcontacts with Moscow since at least 2007, adding that Russian involvementdid not extend beyond “moral and political support”.

Moscow has been critical of the United States and NATO over their handlingof the war in Afghanistan, but Russia initially helped provide helicoptersfor the Afghan military and agreed to a supply route for coalitionmaterials through Russia.

Most of that cooperation has fallen apart as relations between Russia andthe West deteriorated in recent years over the conflicts in Ukraine andSyria.