Accreditation of one diplomat, sent to Moscow by the Taliban Movement, does not signify official diplomatic recognition of the government in Afghanistan, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a news conference in Moscow on April 26 after talks with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Recall, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on April 6 that the ministry had sent a note to the Afghan Embassy to recognize Jamal Garwal as the charge d’affaires of Afghanistan in Moscow..
According to TASS, Lavrov noted at the press conference that Russia wants to move towards the full diplomatic recognition of the new authorities in Afghanistan, represented by the Taliban, if a truly inclusive government is formed there,
"We want to work towards the full diplomatic recognition of the new authorities in Afghanistan, under the understanding that they will keep their promise and form an inclusive government not only from the ethno-confessional point of view, since they now have Uzbeks, Tajiks and Hazaras in the government, they are all Taliban members politically. But it is the political inclusiveness that should determine our further moves, especially since the Taliban have proclaimed this aim," top Russian diplomat was cited as saying by TASS.
According to him, Russia works with other political forces in Afghanistan, including former President Hamid Karzai and former chief of the Afghan High Council for National Reconciliation Abdullah Abdullah. "They are interested in dialogue with the Taliban, and in our contacts with the Taliban movement, we encourage them to having this dialogue launched and continued substantively," Lavrov stressed.
"We have regular contacts with the Taliban via our embassies, via representatives of our departments that consider issues of economic cooperation among other issues," he stressed. The top Russian diplomat reiterated that during the stationing of the Soviet contingent in Afghanistan, over 140 enterprises were built there.
