MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/. Afghanistan’s charge d’affairs in Russia from the Taliban government (the Taliban is outlawed in Russia - TASS) is accredited at the Russian Foreign Ministry and has already begun to perform his duties, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday.

"We have been developing our relations, including the work of the Afghan embassy in Moscow. Last month we granted an official accreditation to the candidate the Taliban movement nominated for the position of Afghanistan’s charge d’affairs in Russia. This is the first Afghan diplomat to have been appointed by the Taliban leadership. He has already begun to perform his duties," Lavrov said in a statement.

On April 6, the Russian Foreign Ministry sent a note to the Afghan embassy in Moscow regarding the recognition of Jamal Nasir Garwal as Afghanistan’s charge d’affairs in Moscow. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said then that the ministry had dispatched "a note to the Afghan embassy on the official recognition of the status of that Afghan diplomat as Afghanistan’s charge d’affairs in Moscow." She described the event as "a step towards the resumption of full-scale bilateral diplomatic contacts." At the same time, she stressed that it was "too early to speculate about the official recognition of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.".