Vladimir Putin said that Russia, together with Western countries, will do everything to ensure stability in Afghanistan. The situation in this country is directly related to Russian security, the president said.
During a meeting with representatives of United Russia, Mr. Putin did not support the West’s idea of placing refugees from Afghanistan in Central Asia until they received visas to the United States and Europe. He called this principle “humiliating.” The President also noted that Russia should not allow militants from Afghanistan under the guise of refugees.
“This means that we can send to these countries without visas to our neighbors, but we do not want to take them without visas. This is just a humiliating approach to solving this issue … We do not want some kind of militants to appear in our country under the guise of refugees … 90s and in the middle of the 2000s, when we actually had hostilities in the North Caucasus, ”Vladimir Putin is convinced.
In his opinion, there may be thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, and maybe millions of refugees from Afghanistan. “And we have no visa restrictions with our closest allies and neighbors, and the border is a thousand kilometers. He sat on anything – even a car, even a donkey and drove across the steppe. And what are we going to do about it? ” – said the head of state.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, present at the meeting, said that representatives of the Taliban (a terrorist movement banned in Russia) are still keeping promises to end hostilities and start a national dialogue in Afghanistan. He also believes that the actions of the Taliban are important from the point of view of the security of Russia’s allies in Central Asia. On their safety, Mr. Lavrov explained, “the risks that may additionally be created already for the territory of the Russian Federation depend.”
On August 15, the Taliban entered Kabul and by the end of the day declared control over all of Afghanistan. President Ashraf Ghani resigned and fled to the UAE, but promised to return. Vladimir Putin commented on the situation for the first time on August 20: he said that the Taliban’s seizure of Afghanistan is “a reality from which one must proceed.”
How the Taliban are trying to form a more positive image of their movement, read in the publication of Kommersant “Taliban spread social networks.”
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