MOSCOW: President Putin on Sunday rejected the thought of sending people evacuation from Afghanistan to countries near Russia, saying he didn’t want “militants exposure here under cover of refugees”, Russian news agencies reported.
Putin criticised a thought of some Western countries to relocate refugees from Afghanistan to neighbouring Central Asian countries while their visas to the us and Europe are being processed.
“Does that mean that they will be sent without visas to those countries, to our neighbours, while they themselves (the West) don’t want to require them without visas?” TASS press agency quoted Putin as telling leaders of the ruling United Russia party.
“Why is there such a humiliating approach to solving the problem?” he said.
The us held secret talks with variety of nations during a desperate plan to secure deals to temporarily house at-risk Afghans who worked for the United States government , this press agency reported last week.
Putin said Russia, which allows visa-free travel for residents of ex-Soviet Central Asian countries, opposes that.
“We don’t want militants exposure here under cover of refugees,” TASS cited Putin as saying.
While some Western nations scrambled to evacuate people from Afghanistan, Moscow praised the Taliban for restoring order following its takeover of the country.
Russia’s secretary of state Sergei Lavrov said Taliban leaders had stuck to their promises thus far .
“We are seeing the statements the Talibs made about ceasing combat actions, an amnesty for all of these involved within the confrontation, a few need for a nationwide dialogue … they’re being implemented,” he was cited by RIA as saying.
Lavrov said the Taliban had started contacts with former Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
