Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office has filed a legal request to temporarily suspend the ban on the Taliban, which has been officially classified as a terrorist organization in the country. The Russian Supreme Court has accepted the case and scheduled a closed-door hearing for April 17, as reported by state news agency TASS.
This move comes after the December 2024 signing of a law by President Vladimir Putin, which allows the temporary suspension of terrorist organization bans under specific circumstances. Leonid Slutsky, head of the State Duma’s foreign affairs committee and leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), explained that the law creates the possibility for Russia to engage diplomatically with the Taliban, which currently governs Afghanistan.
Under the new legal framework, Russian courts can approve the suspension of such bans if evidence is provided that an organization has ceased terrorist activities and propaganda. Once a ruling is made, the decision is to be forwarded to the Federal Security Service (FSB) within five days to update the national terrorist registry.
The Taliban has been listed as a banned terrorist group in Russia since 2003, but Moscow is now seeking to expand its diplomatic and economic relations with the Taliban-led Afghan government despite the legal barriers to formal engagement.
NEWS DESK
PRESS UPDATE