Sources tell Insider that Russia routinely sought information on its targets of choice dissidents who fled the autocratic rule of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov. The US appears to have got little in return.
He said that intelligence officials considered it pointless, but that they pursued it anyway on the orders of the Trump administration.
The former US official, Marc Polymeropoulos, said: "There was a consistent push for CT [counter-terrorism] cooperation with Moscow, coming from the White House, despite near universal belief within the IC [intelligence community] that this effort would be one sided and end up being a waste of time and energy."
However, Insider's sources say that Russia's attempt to uphold its side of the bargain was one-sided and self-serving.
All three sources spoke anonymously because they do not have permissions to discuss the subject publicly. Insider is aware of their identities.
The sources said most of the information that came from the Russians as "help" were actually thinly veiled requests for information on the whereabouts of Chechen and other Muslim Russian dissidents.
The dissidents in question had fled the decade-long wars in and around Chechnya to claim asylum in Europe.
A French police source told Insider: "The Russians regularly abuse the process of sharing information by spamming us with notices about people they know perfectly well are under police protection because of their threats."
The official, who asked for anonymity as he does not have permission to brief the media, is currently investigating t he death by stabbing of Imran Aliev , an anti-Putin and anti-Kadyrov blogger who lived under police protection in Belgium.
He said: "The Russian mentality is that any Chechen who wants independence from Moscow or opposes Kadyrov is an Islamic extremist terrorist just the same as ISIS and needs to be killed."
"It's a mix of fishing, intimidation and setting an atmosphere to make it easier to pressure someone else to turn them over later. It also allows an alibi for them to shrug when they end up murdered."
Another NATO military intelligence official who regularly deals with Russian intelligence matters confirmed the nature of Russia's activity.
He said that NATO had limited some parts of its relationship with the US because of its closeness to Russia, specifically that some worried that US officials would send them its intelligence.
"This is why key protections of intelligence information are in place, you can't always count on your friends to keep secrets."
The NATO official noted that Russia volunteered little useful information on Russians fighting in Syria, despite more of its citizens fighting in that war than any non-Arab nation.
He said Russia instead focused its energies on Chechen targets.
"If we have this good information sharing relationship and there's all these Chechen terrorists out there why do we only get info and requests on bloggers and retired fighters from the 1990s?" asked the official.
"What about all these Chechens and Dagistanis in Idlib [Syria], lots of these guys seem to have military training, the Russians must have something on them? What about Malhama Tactical ?"
A third source, an intelligence official with a Central European NATO member, also confirmed that Russia's requests focus on Chechens.
"They use the intelligence sharing system like they used Interpol: It's a threat," he said. "It's like the movie 'The Godfather,' you have to spread the rumor to everyone that he's dirty before you kill him.
"That way everyone thinks he probably had it coming."