MOSCOW: Russia announced on Tuesday that it was working to remove the Taliban from its list of prohibited terrorist organizations and that it had serious issues to discuss with the leaders of the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters, “This is a country that is next to us, and we communicate with them in one way or another.”
“They are the de facto authority in Afghanistan, so we communicate with them like we do with almost everyone else in order to resolve pressing issues, which also requires dialogue.”
Peskov did not go into detail about the “pressing issues,” but last month, gunmen attacked a music hall outside of Moscow, killing at least 144 people in what turned out to be Russia’s bloodiest attack in 20 years.
The extremist Islamic State group took credit for the incident, and US officials said they had information suggesting Islamic State Khorasan, the network’s branch in Afghanistan, was to blame.
Russia has stated that it is also looking into a possible connection to Ukraine; however, Kyiv and the US have categorically denied this.
