The Russian parliament has paved the way for the normalisation of relations with the Taliban by passing a law that allows the temporary suspension of the ban on "terrorist groups" in the country.
If the law is approved by President Vladimir Putin, Russia will be the first member of the Security Council to remove the Taliban from the list of terrorist groups.
The new move by the Russian parliament is good news for the Taliban, which is eagerly waiting for recognition from the international community.
Currently, no country in the world has recognised the Taliban government, which entered Kabul in August 2021. However, Russia has gradually established ties with the group, who Vladimir Putin called Moscow's ally in the fight against terrorism in July.
The Russian House of Representatives, or Duma, approved the draft law on Tuesday, December 17. The draft law was presented by some members of the Russian State Duma after Russian National Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu visited Kabul and said that Taliban's name could be "temporarily" removed from Russia's list of terrorist groups.
Under the new law, the Kremlin can temporarily suspend the ban on terrorist groups. It could also pave the way for Russia's normalisation of relations with Syria's new rulers.
Russian Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov on Monday called for the removal of Syria's Tahrir al-Sham group from Russia's list of banned terrorist groups. The Islamist group, led by rebel leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, ended more than half a century of rule by the Assad family in Syria by launching a massive offensive against Syrian government forces this month.
Previous Russian laws did not provide for the temporary suspension of the activities of banned organisations.
The Interfax news agency previously wrote about a draft law approved by the Russian parliament today, according to which "the activities of certain prohibited organisations in accordance with Russian law may be suspended for a limited period of time at the request of the Prosecutor General or his deputy and by a court order”.
If the law is signed into law by Vladimir Putin, Russia will be the first member of the Security Council to remove the Taliban from its list of terrorist groups.
China has also accepted the Taliban ambassador but has not yet officially recognized the Taliban government.
Other members of the Security Council have conditioned official relations with the Taliban on respect for women's rights. However, the Taliban have ignored the demands of Western countries by issuing discriminatory decrees against women.
