Russia’s foreign ministry said on Friday that a decision to remove the Afghan Taliban from a list of terrorist organisations had been “taken at the highest level”, the state TASS news agency reported.

The decision needs to be followed up with various legal procedures in order to make it a reality, President Vladimir Putin’s special representative on Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, was quoted as saying.

Putin said in July that Russia considers Afghanistan’s Taliban movement an ally in the fight against terrorism. Russia has been slowly building ties with the Taliban since it seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021 as US-led forces withdrew after 20 years, but the movement is still officially outlawed in Russia.

No country has formally recognised the Taliban as the country’s legitimate leadership, although China and the UAE have accepted its ambassadors.

Russia added the Taliban to its list of terrorist organisations in 2003. Removing it would be an important step by Moscow towards normalising relations with Afghanistan.

In separate comments on Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow was convinced of the need to maintain “pragmatic dialogue” with the current Afghan government. “It is obvious that it is impossible to solve problems or even discuss an Afghan settlement without Kabul,” Lavrov said.

“Moscow will continue its course on developing political, trade and economic ties with Kabul,” he added, speaking at a meeting in Moscow with his Afghan counterpart Amir Khan Muttaqi and representatives of neighbouring countries.

While he did not mention the Taliban by name, he praised the current Afghan leadership for its efforts to curb drug production and fight the proscribed militant Islamic State (IS) group, which is outlawed in Russia.

He said the US should return confiscated assets to Afghanistan and the West should acknowledge responsibility for the post-conflict reconstruction of the country. Lavrov also called for an increase in humanitarian aid to Afghanistan and said Russia would keep sending it food and essential goods.

Russia has a troubled history in Afghanistan, where the Soviet army invaded in 1979 to support a pro-Moscow government but withdrew 10 years later after sustaining heavy casualties at the hands of mujahideen fighters.

Russia and its post-Soviet neighbours have suffered recurrent attacks from militant groups linked to Afghanistan — most recently in March, when 145 people were killed in an attack claimed by IS at a concert hall near Moscow.