The Russian Foreign Ministry told Sputnik in April that the issue of removing the movement from the terrorist organizations’ list in Russia is being worked out by specialized ministries and agencies.
"There is no contradiction in any way. UN Security Council Resolution 1267 imposed sanctions on individual leaders of the Taliban movement, not on the entire movement. At the time — on an emotional surge, al-Qaeda*, the war in Chechnya — we went even further than the UN Security Council's decision did, and the presidential decree designated the entire movement [as terrorist]. This is exactly the point. So there is no contradiction with the UN Resolution," Kabulov, who served as Russia's ambassador to Afghanistan from 2004-2009, said.
Russia understands the need to strip the movement of the terrorist status, but the final decision on this issue will be made by the president as the organization had initially been designated as terrorist by the presidential decree, the diplomat added.
UNSC Resolution 1267, which was passed in 1999, demanded that the Taliban turn over Usama bin Laden and instructed all countries to impose sanctions on the Taliban until the first demand is fulfilled. Russia included the movement on the list of terrorist organizations in 2003.
*Terrorist organizations banned in Russia and a number of other countries.