Bill to allow Taliban’s removal from Russia’s terror list introduced to Duma

Legislation that would allow organisations to be temporarily removed from Russia’s list of terrorist organisations was introduced to the State Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament on Monday.

If the bill passes, it will be possible for a court to “temporarily” remove organisations that have “ceased to carry out activities aimed at promoting, justifying and supporting terrorism” from the list, upon recommendation by the Prosecutor General’s Office.

The bill’s authors, who include Andrey Klishas of the ruling United Russia party and Andrey Lugovoy of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, have made no secret of the fact that the legislation was tailored to allow the government to remove the Taliban from the list of terrorist organisations.

Leonid Slutsky, the chairman of the State Duma’s International Affairs Committee, confirmed on Tuesday that the bill was aimed at doing precisely that, saying it was “high time” to remove the group from the list. “Whether you like it or not, the Taliban is in charge of Afghanistan, and now we will be able to cooperate with it on an absolutely legal basis.”

During a visit to Kabul on Monday, the head of Russia’s Security Council Sergey Shoigu told Afghanistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Ghani Baradar that the Russian authorities intended to remove the Taliban from the terror list.

Last month, FSB Director Alexander Bortnikov confirmed that Russia was finalising the details of the Taliban’s removal from the list, describing the militant group’s current activities as being “aimed at restoring order and maintaining stability” in Afghanistan.

Bortnikov also noted the Taliban’s willingness to fight Islamic State’s Afghanistan-based branch Wilayat Khorasan, the group behind the March attack on Crocus City Hall near Moscow in which at least 144 people were killed and over 550 were injured.

However, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday that no decision had yet been taken to remove the Taliban from the terror list. “The president said to establish contacts. These contacts are being made. As soon as any decision is taken and as soon as it is official, we will announce it.”

In late August, the Taliban banned women in Afghanistan from speaking in public, showing their faces outside the home, singing and reading aloud, classing such activities as a “vice”. The Ministry of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has already reported that it has detained thousands of people for non-compliance with Sharia law in the country.

In May, the Russian Foreign Affairs and Justice Ministries advised Vladimir Putin that the Taliban could be removed from the list of terrorist organisations. Putin subsequently commented that it was necessary to build relations with them, because “these are the people who control the country”. In June, Taliban representatives attended the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

The Taliban was added to Russia’s list of terrorist organisations in March 2003, based on resolutions by the UN Security Council and Russia’s Supreme Court. In 2021, the Taliban retook control of Afghanistan in its entirety following the hurried exit of US forces, though the group has not been recognised as the legitimate Afghan government by the West.