Russia will not ‘artificially impede’ process of removing IEA from list of terrorist groups

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko said the completion of legal procedures to remove the Islamic Emirate from Moscow’s terrorist list will provide positive impetus to Russian-Afghan relations.

In an interview with Russia’s TASS news agency, Rudenko said “removing the terrorist organization’s status from the Taliban Movement (Islamic Emirate) will attribute a positive impetus to Russian-Afghan interaction in various spheres, in the economy in the first instance.”

“As regards the issue of the official recognition of current Afghan authorities, it is early to talk about it thus far. Let’s act gradually, step by step, but we do not intend to artificially impede the processes,” Rudenko noted.

“Russia is taking steps of establishing practical interaction with authorities of Afghanistan on issues of mutual interest,” the Russian diplomat added.

Early last month, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said a decision to remove the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) from a list of terrorist organisations had been “taken at the highest level”.

This came after Putin stated in July that Russia considered the IEA an ally in the fight against terrorism.

Russia has been slowly building ties with the Islamic Emirate since it seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021 but the IEA is still officially outlawed in Russia.

In response to Russia’s comments last month, the IEA’s acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said the Islamic Emirate “appreciates the positive remarks by the high-ranking officials of the Russian Federation in this regard and hope to see more effective steps soon.”