The Taliban is no longer considered a terrorist organization by Russia

Russia’s Supreme Court has suspended the ban on the Taliban movement in the country, which had previously been recognized as a terrorist organization and banned.

This was reported by correspondents of the Russian news agency RIA Novosti from the courtroom.

The court satisfied the relevant administrative claim of the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation following a closed session. The decision is subject to immediate execution, but may be appealed.

The Prosecutor General’s Office explained that the legal basis for going to court was the amendments made to the federal law “On Countering Terrorism.”

They allow for the suspension of a ban on a terrorist organization if it has ceased activities aimed at propaganda, justification, and support of terrorism or committing terrorist crimes against Russia’s interests.

These circumstances were confirmed at the court hearing, and the court concluded that the claim was justified, the watchdog added.

Previously, Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu, while being part of the Russian delegation in Kabul, said that Russia plans to remove the Taliban from the list of terrorist organizations and strengthen bilateral political and economic ties with Afghanistan.

The Taliban have been in power in Afghanistan since late summer 2021. Since then, they have repeatedly visited Russia, without officially recognizing the new leadership that has emerged in the country.

At the beginning of the year, The Insider published an investigation showing that the Main Directorate of the Russian General Staff (GRU) financed the murders of American citizens by members of the Taliban.

The media spoke to four former Afghan civil servants, three of whom held senior positions in the National Security Directorate before the Taliban usurped power in the country in 2021. All of them independently stated that the terrorist attacks in the country, including the December 11, 2019, Bagram and March 1, 2019, Helmand attacks, were sponsored by Russia.

According to the investigators’ sources, Russia tried to interfere in the country immediately after the establishment of the Interim Administration of Afghanistan in December 2001.

According to Douglas London, who was responsible for counterterrorism in South and Southwest Asia at the CIA from 2016 to 2018, the Kremlin wanted the Taliban to spend more time killing Americans and less time killing Afghans.

They offered financial rewards to encourage militants to take greater risks by attacking American targets in Afghanistan. The reward averaged $200,000 for each U.S. or coalition soldier killed (Afghan soldiers were paid less). In total, according to one of the former NSA employees, Russia paid the Taliban at least $30 million.