MOSCOW, October 4. /TASS/. Russia has already made a principal decision to remove the Taliban movement (outlawed in Russia) from its list of organizations designated as terrorist, with certain legal procedures pending, Russian Special Presidential Representative for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov told reporters.

"The [Russian] Foreign Ministry jointly with the FSB (Russia’s Federal Security Service - TASS) and a number of other Russian agencies are putting finishing legal touches on the removal of the Taliban movement from Russia’s list of terrorists. <…> A principal decision on this has already been made by the Russian leadership. But the process should be carried out within the Russian legal framework," the Russian envoy said following the latest round of consultations on Afghanistan in Moscow.

Russian authorities just need to bring the process in line with federal laws, Kabulov explained. "Hopefully, the final decision will be announced soon," he added.

Earlier on Friday, Director of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) Alexander Bortnikov said that work to remove the Talibs from the list of terrorist organizations was in the final stages in Russia. According to the FSB chief, Russia can see that "the Taliban is ready to fight the most dangerous wing of the Islamic State (IS), ISIS-K, which is still getting material support from the West which uses the terrorist group’s capacity to carry out subversive false-flag operations on our soil."