Russia is seriously concerned about the development of the situation in Afghanistan and condemns the terrorist attacks in Kabul in the strongest terms, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday.
"We condemn these terrorist acts in the strongest possible terms. Of course, the news of a large number of deaths is very sad. Unfortunately, the pessimistic forecasts that the chaos in Afghanistan will be used by terrorist groups and organizations, primarily ISIS (Islamic State, IS - a terrorist group banned in the Russian Federation) and its derivatives, are confirmed," Peskov said. - "This adds to the tension in Afghanistan itself. The danger for everybody is high. Of course, that continues to be a major concern for us".
Evacuation from Kabul
Russia is not yet planning any new operations to evacuate people from Kabul, further plans will depend on evolving events, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday.
"So far no other operations are planned. And then everything will depend on how the situation develops. It's quite unpredictable," Peskov told reporters when asked whether the Russian side plans to speed up the evacuation of its citizens in connection with the Kabul bombings.
"I think the situation is being monitored through various agencies," the presidential spokesman added. The Kremlin spokesman recalled that Russia had already conducted an operation to evacuate its citizens from Afghanistan.
On August 25-26, the Defense Ministry forces took citizens of Russia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, who applied to the embassy of Russia in Kabul for help in getting back to their countries of origin, out of Afghanistan. Russian foreign ministry stressed that the matter concerns not the evacuation but assistance in the return home of these citizens who find themselves in difficult conditions due to the dramatic change in the military-political situation in Afghanistan. Earlier, Dmitry Zhirnov, Russian ambassador to Afghanistan, reported that over 360 Afghans with Russian citizenship were evacuated from Kabul by the Russian Defense Ministry's aircraft. More than 500 citizens of Russia, CSTO countries (Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan), Uzbekistan and Ukraine were evacuated from Afghanistan by the Russian Ministry of Defense by order of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Valery Sharifulin / TASS
Based on materials from TASS