MOSCOW, October 25. /TASS/. Russia is working on reopening its consulate general in Mazar-i-Sharif in Afghanistan, Special Russian Presidential Representative for Afghanistan, Director of the Foreign Ministry’s Second Asian Department Zamir Kabulov said at an online conference on Monday.
"We are working on this. Such things happen when the staff has to be evacuated. Officially, the Russian consulate general in Mazar-i-Sharif remains operational but we have had to evacuate the staff for security reasons due to the situation that is well known about," the envoy said in response to a corresponding question.
The resumption of the mission’s work is a technical issue and now a process of inter-agency approval by the Foreign Ministry and other agencies concerned is underway, the senior Russian diplomat said.
"The return to that mission will require a thorough check of the entire territory from all aspects, following which a decision on the dates and the time will be made," he pointed out.
The Russian envoy earlier said that the situation in Mazar-i-Sharif in northern Afghanistan was stable, which made it possible to consider resuming the work of the consulate general. The high-ranking Russian diplomat told TASS in July that Russia’s mission in Mazar-i-Sharif had suspended its work over the aggravation of the situation in the country’s north.