Russia’s top court to review lifting ban on Taliban

Russia’s Supreme Court has received a request from the prosecutor general’s office to lift the ban on Afghanistan’s Taliban, designated as a terrorist group in 2003, news reports said.

The court announced on Monday that a hearing on the petition, submitted by Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov, is scheduled for April 17.

Under a law passed last year, Russia allows the suspension of a group’s terrorist designation through a court ruling. Despite the ban, Moscow has hosted Taliban delegations at various forums, citing the need to engage with Afghanistan’s rulers to support regional stability.