MOSCOW, March 1. /TASS/. Russia’s Foreign Ministry has rejected a report by the Qatar-based TV Channel Al Jazeera, claiming that Moscow cooperates with terrorist groupings in Afghanistan.
"On February 26, an article titled: ‘Russia’s new game in Afghanistan’ was posted on the website of the Qatari TV Channel Al Jazeera. Its author claims that Russia is cooperating with some terrorist groupings, in particular, with the Taliban Movement," according to a statement posted on Wednesday on the ministry’s website in the column: "Published materials that contain false information about Russia."
As the Russian Foreign Ministry said, "the journalist of Al Jazeera refers to the words of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov who allegedly stated about an exchange of intelligence data between the Russian Federation and the Taliban to fight the Islamic State [a terrorist organization outlawed in Russia], which is by itself an absolute lie as Sergey Lavrov did not say anything like this," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
While replying to journalists’ questions after a meeting with Afghan Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani on February 7, Lavrov mentioned Russia’s support of the Afghan security forces and the Afghan national army with armament and ammunition, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
"We are once again drawing attention to the fact that Russia is practically fighting international terrorism and does not support militants," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
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