Tali-unbanned

On April 17, the Russian Supreme Court removed the Taliban from the state's list of terrorist organizations. The Court announced the change via Telegram.

The fundamentalist militant Islamic Taliban movement, centered in Afghanistan, has been banned in Russia since 2003. In 2021, the organization became the de facto government of Afghanistan, although no state has recognized their leadership.

Despite the fact that the Taliban has been categorized as a terrorist organization for 20 years, the Russian government has recently been connecting with them, inviting its representatives to state events. In one instance, Russian President Vladimir Putin referred to them as "allies."

The move would lessen legal repercussions for Russian nationals who interact with, or even speak approvingly, about the Taliban. Notably, in March 2025, Russian officials fined journalist Nadezhda Kevorkova R600,000 ($6900) for murky allegations about social media posts regarding Taliban-run Afghanistan.

The change in designation could also benefit Russia. Reportedly, the Taliban has agreed to fight Valiyat Khorasan, the terrorist organization behind the May 2024 Crocus City Hall attack. Further, Secretary of the Security Council Sergei Shoigu asserted that a closer partnership with the Taliban would "strengthen political and economic ties" between Russia and Afghanistan.

The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in December 1979 to prop up a puppet regime there, setting in motion nearly five decades of war. The Soviet intervention kicked off a civil and international war that, resulted in over 600,000 Soviet and 150,000 Afghan casualties. When Soviet forces withdrew in 1989, the Taliban surged into the vacuum. By the mid-1990s it was ruling the country, and soon became the center for an international conspiracy that led to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US. Twenty years of US-Afghan war followed, until the US finally withdrew in 2021, which allowed the Taliban to return to power.