MOSCOW, May 30. /TASS/. Moscow expects the Taliban movement (outlawed in Russia) to fulfill all its promises in terms of the government's inclusivity, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko told reporters on the sidelines of an international conference titled "Russia and China: Cooperation in a New Era."
When asked if the Afghan government’s inclusivity was still a condition for the Taliban’s recognition, he said: "Yes, our policy towards Afghanistan remains entirely unchanged." "The proposal that you mentioned to remove the Taliban from the terrorist organizations list is aimed at creating conditions for the movement’s greater integration into global communication. This is also necessary to boost ties with them in various fields, including trade and economy, without having to look at the restrictions that were introduced in a completely different environment. The Taliban movement is the reality on the ground and we need to take this into account," Rudenko pointed out.
"We aren’t linking things; we just say that we do expect the Taliban movement to implement all the promises that it previously publicly made to the international community. However, we in no way see it as a condition or link it with their activities and policies, particularly with regard to Russia," the deputy foreign minister added.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on May 27 that the initiative to remove the Taliban from the list of terrorist organizations "reflects awareness of reality." Zamir Kabulov, director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Second Asian Department, told TASS earlier that Russia’s Foreign Ministry and Justice Ministry had reported to President Vladimir Putin that the Taliban could be removed from the list of banned organizations.
On May 28, Putin emphasized the need to build relations with the Taliban as they were in power in Afghanistan and controlled the country.