Russia’s Prosecutor General's Office has asked the country's Supreme Court to consider suspending the ban on the Taliban, according to DW. The hearing, set for April 17, will be held behind closed doors.
The Taliban, which has been listed as a banned terrorist organization by Russia since 2003, has seen increasing diplomatic engagement with Moscow in recent years.
President Vladimir Putin expressed support for the group in July 2023, acknowledging the Taliban as an ally in the fight against terrorism. The movement has been fighting the Islamic State of Khorasan (IS-K), a rival jihadist group, in Afghanistan. In March 2024, IS-K claimed responsibility for an attack in Moscow that killed more than 140 people.
Despite Russia’s complex history with Afghanistan following the Soviet invasion in the 1980s, Moscow's relations with the Taliban have improved since the U.S. withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021. In December, the Russian parliament passed a law allowing the suspension of bans on groups designated as terrorist organizations, creating a legal pathway for normalizing ties with the Taliban.
Under this new law, the Supreme Court could lift the ban if the Prosecutor General confirms that the Taliban has ceased its "terrorist" activities. The Federal Security Service (FSB) would then be responsible for removing the group from the banned list.
While the decision could see the ban on the Taliban lifted, it does not amount to official recognition of the Taliban government or the "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan" it claims to have established.
In October 2024, President Putin’s special representative for Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov stated that the decision regarding the removal of the Taliban from the Russia’s terrorist list was already made but will undergo several legal procedures to be fully implemented in the coming years.
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