Lavrov: destabilization of Russia’s allies in Central Asia due to Kabul is unacceptable

The main task for Moscow is to prevent destabilization of Central Asian allies after the Taliban (outlawed in Russia) seized power in Afghanistan, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview on the Rossiya-24 television channel.

"The main thing for us is their stability, since we do not have borders with our Central Asian allies, [there is] visa-free regime with almost everyone," he said.

"First and foremost, this is the necessity to prevent destabilization of neighboring countries and the influx of terrorist and drug threats from Afghanistan, the necessity to nip these threats in the bud inside Afghanistan," TASS cited Lavrov as saying.

The Taliban movement (outlawed in Russia) launched a large-scale operation for establishing control of Afghanistan after the United States last spring declared its troop pullout. On August 15, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani left the country, while the radicals entered the capital Kabul without encountering any resistance. On September 6, the Taliban said it had put the whole territory of Afghanistan under control and on September 7 unveiled the composition of its interim Cabinet of Ministers, whose legitimacy has not been recognized by any country so far.