The collapse at Kabul airport, which led to the deaths of Afghans, was caused by the actions of the United States, which tried to evacuate its diplomats, said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
Earlier, footage spread across social networks and global TV channels showed Afghans in Kabul running on the runway next to a plane, grabbing the fuselage and possibly falling from a great height.
"By the way, the collapse that has been going on for days at the (Kabul) airport is not the result of the Kabul airport not being able to accept planes, but it all started because it was the US, by sending an additional contingent of its troops to help get American diplomats out, that disrupted the operation of this airport. That's where this collapse started," Zakharova stressed on the air of SolovievLive.
She recalled that several Afghans were injured as a result of this collapse. "People who have gathered at the airport - you see what is happening, these are people who are clinging to the wings (of the plane), who are in the landing gear compartments, who are climbing, people who are falling from these planes," Zakharova added.
The situation in Afghanistan has particularly escalated in recent weeks, with the advance of the radical Taliban (banned in Russia) into major cities. On Sunday, media and sources reported that the insurgents controlled all border crossings. Later that day, militants said they had entered Kabul and taken control of the presidential palace. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said he left the country "to prevent a massacre".
On the night of August 16, Mohammad Naeem, spokesman for the Taliban political office, said that the war in Afghanistan was over and the form of government in the state would be clarified soon. At present, all the land border crossings from Afghanistan are controlled by Taliban fighters. The evacuation of foreign employees and Afghans working for foreign missions is being carried out through Kabul's only airport, which is held by the United States and other NATO countries.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Creative Commons
Based on materials from RIA Novosti