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Developments in Afghanistan

There should be no haste to recognize Taliban officially — Putin

The Russian president stressed that the Taliban’s interim government regrettably failed to reflect the entire diversity of Afghan society

© Yevgeny Paulin/Russian Presidential Press and Information Office/TASS

NOVO-OGARYOVO, October 15. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin believes that interaction should be maintained with the Taliban movement (outlawed in Russia), but there should be no haste to recognize them officially.

"There should be no haste to recognize the Taliban officially. We are aware that they should be cooperated with, but there is no place for haste," Putin said at the CIS summit on Friday. He added that Moscow was going to discuss these questions with its CIS counterparts.

Putin stressed that the Taliban’s interim government regrettably failed to reflect the entire diversity of Afghan society.

"At the same time, an intention has been announced to conduct general elections. Measures are being taken to restore the operation of public administration bodies to normal," Putin said. "Within the CIS framework we will certainly keep track of whether these pledges are backed up by real action."

"It is necessary to support the process of intra-Afghan reconciliation and to promote normalization in that country in general," Putin said. "We all can contribute to the resumption of activities by the enlarged troika - Russia, the United States and China with Pakistan taking part (I would ask you to support this), and also the Moscow format, in which the region’s key countries, including Central Asian ones are involved," Putin said. "We are moving towards holding meetings within the framework of these mechanisms in Moscow in the near future, in October."

Earlier, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Moscow was expecting the arrival of a large Taliban delegation for consultations on Afghanistan next week. Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that preparations for contacts on Afghanistan were underway.

The Moscow format meeting is due on October 20. This platform emerged in 2017 on the basis of a six-party mechanism of consultations by special envoys from Russia, Afghanistan, India, Iran, China and Pakistan.

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Power transfer in Afghanistan

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Press review: South Korean president impeached as Ukraine turns to foreign mercenaries

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Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also emphasized that Moscow is outraged by the hypocritical silence of the West and its media on the terrorist attacks in Russia

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TASS has gathered the main information about the incident

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Andrey Marochko noted that Russian forces had "slightly advanced" in the northern and southern parts of Chasov Yar

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The Ukrainian military also admitted the Russian army’s supremacy in terms of military equipment and the size of personnel

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Death toll from Israeli strikes on Gaza Strip exceeds 45,200 — health ministry

More than 107,600 people received wounds

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Eight motor vehicles and two electronic warfare stations were also destroyed? the ministy added

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Ahmed аl-Sharaa expressed hope for building strategic relations with Lebanon

Press review: EU imposes new anti-Russian sanctions and Russia braces for NATO conflict

Top stories from the Russian press on Tuesday, December 17th

Magdeburg attacker may be charged with murder of 5, attempted murder of 205 — prosecutor

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First batch of nuclear-armed drones Poseidon manufactured for special-purpose sub Belgorod

According to the source, various trials of core components of Poseidon underwater drones, including the nuclear power

Ukraine to halt Russian gas transit on January 1, 2025 — Ukrainian PM

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Putin agrees 'Russian world' now faces war

The Russian leader also agreed with Sergey Mironov, head of the "A Just Russia - For Truth" faction in the Duma, who said that "the birth rate is insufficient, because the matter concerns extinction"

Trump appoints TV producer Burnett as special envoy to UK

The new special envoy will be in charge of trade and investment issues, as well as the cultural exchange between the two countries

NATO spies study damage from Oreshnik at Yuzhmash — expert

Alexander Stepanov emphasized that both Kiev and its Western allies are closely scrutinizing the consequences of the strike on the plant

Lavrov describes attack by insurgents in Syria as carefully planned

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Massacre staged by retreating Ukrainian troops in Selidovo — report

According to Maxim Grigoryev, videos of interviews with witnesses and preliminary forensic examination of the bodies indicate that most of the victims are elderly women

Putin holding talks with visiting Slovak PM

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Two freight trains collide at Trans-Baikal Railways, traffic suspended

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Musk believes Germany’s Scholz should step down after car drives into crowd in Magdeburg

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Putin to extend New Year greetings to peoples of several unfriendly countries — Kremlin

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An-2 plane missing in Kamchatka located, survivors found — regional emergencies ministry

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Hungarian PM highlights need to lift sanctions on Russia once Ukraine conflict is resolved

Viktor Obran added, however, that only a couple of EU countries shared Hungary’s position

AI can help generate personalized cancer vaccines in an hour — Russia’s vaccine chief

Now it takes quite long to build personalized vaccines because computing of how a vaccine should look like uses matrix methods, Alexander Gintsburg said

Ukrainian troops struggling to escape being trapped in Lozovaya in Kharkov region — expert

In general, "quite active hostilities" are taking place near Dvurechnaya and Lozovaya in the Kupyansk sector of the line of engagement, Andrey Marochko noted

Ukraine's refusal to transit Russian gas will hit EU economies hard — French expert

According to Jacques Sapir, the decision not to extend transit contracts was no surprise given the political landscape

Russian forces create bridgehead near Kupyansk-Uzlovoy in Kharkov Region — expert

Ukrainian forces have been shifting significant reserves to this settlement, including fresh recruits with little to no training, to retain Kupyansk

West should consider Putin's words on Oreshnik missile duel — diplomat

Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova emphasized that the rhetoric about "inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia" is firmly rooted in the mentality of the NATO regimes not at all as hypothetical assumptions

Latest nuclear-powered sub Arkhangelsk to join Russian Navy by yearend

The Arkhangelsk submarine was rolled out from the slipway of the Sevmash Shipyard on November 29, 2023 for completing its construction afloat

Magnitude 5.3 earthquake rocks South Africa

No injuries or damage were reported

Putin’s talks with visiting Slovak PM over — Kremlin spokesman

Dmitry Peskov added that it is not planned to issue any joint statements

Russian forces destroy two Ukrainian Su-27 fighter jets in 24 hours — defense ministry

The Russian Aerospace Forces downed two Su-27 fighter jets of Ukraine’s air forces in 24 hours

Israeli delegation discussing in Doha ways of reaching deal om Gaza — TV

The Al Arabiya television channel said that, citing a source

ISS orbit raised ahead of launching Soyuz manned spacecraft

As preliminary data suggest, the ISS orbit was raised by 2.3 km to 416.43 km above the Earth’s surface

US confirms strikes on Houthi command posts in Yemen

CENTCOM forces also shot down several Houthi unmanned aerial vehicles and an anti-ship cruise missile over the Red Sea

US wants to destabilize whole region using terrorists in Afghanistan — Shoigu

The defebse minister noted that "instead of working for the reconstruction of Afghanistan after the hasty withdrawal from it, the NATO countries are trying in various ways to restore their military presence in the Central Asian region"

Hungary wants to preserve relations with Russia as part of economic neutrality — Orban

Prime minister underscored that, "the more serious the problems in Europe are, the more decisively the economic relations in all other markets should be promoted"

Trump warns dollar to be displaced as number one world currency over Biden’s policy

It is noted that China is trying to displace the US dollar as the number one currency throughout the world

Arkhangelsk nuclear submarine ready to join Russian Navy — Sevmash Shipyard CEO

Project 885M nuclear-powered submarines carry Oniks and Kalibr-PL cruise missiles as their basic strike weapons

Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger take armies to maximum alert — declaration

"The College of national leaders closely follows the deceiving maneuvers, initiated by the French junta, who declares the shutdown of its military bases only to replace them with another, less visible mechanism, which pursues the same neo-colonial goal," says the statement

Houthis say attacked US aircraft carrier in Red Sea, shot down US fighter jet

According to the Houthi spokesman, the strike on US vessels was delivered with the use of "eight cruise missiles and 17 drones"

Russia currently holds upper hand in Ukraine conflict, Indian expert says

Nandan Unnikrishnan pointed out that Russian President Vladimir Putin "has more than once spoken about Russia’s readiness to discuss an end to the conflict"