KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The Russian Supreme Court has ruled to suspend the Taliban’s designation as a terrorist organization in Russia, following a closed-door hearing.
The Russian state news agency TASS reported on Thursday that the decision was made in response to an administrative request by the Prosecutor General’s Office.
“By decision of the Russian Supreme Court, the previously established ban on the activities of the Taliban movement, included in the unified federal list of organizations recognized as terrorist, is suspended,” the court said.
The Taliban, listed as a terrorist organization in Russia since 2003, has now been removed from the country’s federal registry of banned groups.
The suspension takes immediate effect and follows a legal amendment signed into law by President Vladimir Putin in December 2024.
The court determined that the Taliban met the legal conditions required for the suspension.
This marks the first use of the updated law.
Leonid Slutsky, chairman of the State Duma’s Committee on International Affairs, said the move opens the path for formal legal cooperation between Moscow and the Taliban.
Despite the Taliban not being officially recognized as the legitimate ruler of Afghanistan by any country, Russia has deepened its engagement with the group since it returned to power in 2021.
Russia handed over the Afghanistan embassy in Moscow to Taliban-appointed diplomats and continues to operate its own mission in Kabul.
Prior to Russia’s decision, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan had already removed the Taliban from their national lists of terrorist organizations.
