Russia officially moves to legalize the Taliban

The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office requested Monday that the Supreme Court ends a ban on the Taliban’s activities in the country.

Moscow’s foreign and justice ministries submitted an appeal last week to President Vladimir Putin urging the Taliban’s removal from Russia’s list of terrorist organizations.

The Taliban is a political and militant Islamist group that emerged in Afghanistan in the early 1990s, and has ruled in Kabul since the U.S. withdrew from the country in August 2021.

The Russian hearing is scheduled for April 17 and will be held behind closed doors, the Supreme Court press service said in a statement, state-owned media outlet TASS reported.

“The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation has received and accepted for consideration an administrative claim by the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation to suspend the ban on the activities of the Taliban movement, included in the unified federal list of organizations, including foreign and international organizations recognized in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation as terrorist,” the Supreme Court added.

Russia’s relationship with the Taliban regime has evolved over time, as Moscow’s own ostracism from the West grew following its escalating aggression in Ukraine.

The Taliban was added to Russia’s blacklist in 2003 for backing separatists in the North Caucasus. However, following the hardcore Islamist group’s takeover of Afghanistan in 2021, Moscow has progressively deepened its diplomatic engagement with the Taliban, hosting delegations for negotiations and even permitting its participation in international forums.

In July, Putin called the group “a trusted ally,” adding that the movement could help Russia’s fight against the Islamic State.

On Dec. 28, the Russian leader signed a law permitting the temporary suspension of bans on organizations included in the terrorist list.