In a session in camera on April 17, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation “temporarily” raised “the ban from Russia to the Taliban. The request came from the prosecutor’s office.
This motion was based on a decree that President Vladimir Putin had published a year ago, which allows the Taliban, an ultra -conservative political and religious movement in Afghanistan, to be removed from the list of terrorist organizations in Russia. The Taliban found power in Kabul in 2021 after the withdrawal of the international coalition forces of Afghanistan.
According to Russian law, any member of the Taliban entering Russia must be arrested and could incur up to 20 years in prison to engage in terrorist activities. In practice, however, no member of the Taliban has been arrested in the seizure of Russia since 2016.
It was then that the Kremlin opened unofficial negotiations with the Taliban. Since then, the Taliban representatives have repeatedly visited Moscow and Saint Petersburg and were even presented there on the sidelines of the 2024 International Economic Forum.
The Russian media continued to designate the Taliban as a “terrorist organization, prohibited in Russia”. However, this changed in 2024, when Putin began to describe the Taliban as “allies in the fight against terrorism”.
The United States does not designate the Taliban as a terrorist organization, but classified it as a movement of insurgents.
The Taliban supported Chechens fighters
During the Second Chechens War, which lasted from 1999 to 2009, the Taliban supported the Chechen fighters against Moscow, both financially and with weapons. They have established diplomatic links with the Chechen government of Aslan Maskhadov and recognized the declaration of independence of the Autonomous Republic of Russia.
Following Al-Qaeda terrorist attacks in the United States on September 11, 2001, the Taliban, who had governed by Afghanistan since 1996, were ousted by a coalition led by the United States. NATO allies then deployed the ISAF mission to support the new Afghan government under a mandate from the United Nations Security Council.
The Taliban hoped to obtain the support of Moscow. In a later interview with the BBC, the then chief of the staff of the presidential administration of Russia, Sergei Ivanov, revealed that the spiritual leader of Afghanistan, Mullah Omar, had proposed in 2001 that Russia and the Taliban should join forces “to fight against American aggression”.
According to Ivanov, the Kremlin’s response, in English, was: “F — OFF”. In 2003, Russia officially appointed the Taliban a terrorist organization.
However, in 2015, the Kremlin began to establish “communication channels” with the Taliban. Last year, Putin signed the decree allowing their withdrawal of the terrorism list. This process can also allow Moscow to deactivate Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), the group which currently controls the transitional government in Syria.
What changes, in legal terms?
The decision of the Supreme Court apparently allows Russia to finalize the complete agreements directly with Afghanistan. Evgeniy Smirnov of the independent human rights group, Pervyi Otdel (“first department”) told DW that Russian criminal law stipulates prison terms of various durations of collaboration with organizations designated as terrorists.
Despite this, the contracts were signed in 2024 for the supply of petroleum products, wheat and flour. Smirnov said these transactions could have been concluded through commercial structures without Taliban representatives directly involved.
Smirnov also noted that Russian law does not clearly define a procedure to reverse a designation of terrorism. “The temporary evidence means that the organization is actually outside the list. From that moment, collaboration with the Taliban has no more criminal consequences. However, existing convictions cannot be canceled,” he explained.
Political immunity in Russia
The Middle East expert, Ruslan Suleymanov, said that to date, no country has officially recognized the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan. But, he added, the Taliban try to end their international isolation. They have already convinced Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzistan to withdraw the group from their respective national lists of terrorist organizations.
However, he warned: “They have only acquired indirect recognition so far. China, for example, has agreed to accept the ambassador appointed by the Taliban, while Russia has only accepted a temporary loading of business.”
According to him, the international skepticism towards the Taliban stems from the return of strict and repressive laws in Afghanistan, similar to those in force under their period of previous rule, between 1996 and 2001. The human rights situation in the country has deteriorated in a spectacular manner, in particular for women and girls.
Suleymanov added that Moscow had started to establish links with representatives of the Taliban more moderate in the context of his worsening relations with the West, while Russia considers himself a key player in the region. This is linked to the political immunity that the representatives of the Taliban appreciated during the trip to Russia.
According to Suleymanov, when the United States withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021, the Kremlin was eager to demonstrate that the United States foreign policy failed.
“Russian propaganda has applauded the Taliban and, in general, which continues to date, in the midst of anti-Western rhetoric in Russia.”
This article was initially written in Russian.
