MOSCOW, November 26. /TASS/. Moscow believes it important to boost ties with the Afghan authorities but it has not yet made a decision to remove the Taliban movement (outlawed in Russia) from its list of terrorist organizations, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"As for the Afghan leadership and the forces that are in power in the country, it’s certainly very important to boost ties with them and build contact, especially because it is a country located in a neighboring region," he pointed out. Peskov added that Russia maintained contact with the Afghan leadership.

"As soon as decisions (to remove the Taliban from the list of terrorist organizations - TASS) are made and finalized, we will inform you," the Kremlin spokesman added.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko told TASS earlier that Moscow would not create artificial obstacles to removing the terrorist organization status from the Taliban movement, and the necessary legal procedures were expected to be completed. In his view, the move will give a positive boost to Russia-Afghanistan cooperation in various fields, particularly in the economic sphere. However, it’s too early to talk about Russia’s official recognition of the current Afghan authorities, Rudenko added. He stressed that in over three years in power, the Taliban had proved their determination to develop constructive relations with the countries of the region, including Russia.

On Monday, a Russian delegation led by Security Council Secretary Sergey Shoigu and Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk made a visit to Afghanistan.