Russia’s New Law To Recognise Taliban, Potentially Syria’s Hayat al-Sham

The Russian parliament has passed a law that would allow courts to suspend bans on groups designated as terrorist organisations by Moscow. The new law, passed by parliament’s lower house, the State Duma, paved the way for Moscow to normalise ties with the Afghan Taliban and potentially with the new leadership of Syria.

It outlines a legal mechanism for groups to be removed from the country’s official banned list of outlawed “terrorist” organisations by order of a court if they cease terrorist-related activity. The Taliban was in the first batch of groups to be added to the list, in February 2003, and Syria’s HTS was added in 2020.

So far, no country in the world recognises the Taliban government in Afghanistan, which seized power in August 2021 as US-led forces staged a chaotic withdrawal after 20 years of war. However, the Kremlin has courted relations with the Islamist group, with President Vladimir Putin saying in July that the Taliban was now an ally in fighting terrorism.

There are also calls in Moscow for the removal of Syrian group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)–that spearheaded the toppling of President Bashar al-Assad this month– from Moscow’s list of banned terror groups.

The leader of Russia’s Muslim region of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, on Monday said Russia needed ties to the new Syrian authorities to ensure stability and prevent a humanitarian catastrophe. Kadyrov is seen as a close Putin ally.