Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has denied a message in one of the online publications that Russian presidential envoy for Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, allegedly declared “the possibility of Russian troops entering Afghanistan to fight terrorism”.
This statement is absolutely untrue and has not been expressed in any form by Kabulov, Zakharova said.
“The Russian position on this issue is well known, it lies in the fact that Russia under no circumstances planned and does not plan to send its troops to Afghanistan. We can only talk about the possibility of expanding cooperation with Afghanistan in the fight against terrorism and the drug threat through cooperation in the military-technical sphere, as well as in the field of training qualified personnel, which is currently being carried out in forms that everyone is well aware of”, – she said .
Zakharova asked the media to be more professional in the performance of her duties.
“Such interpretations and even distortions of data, statements can turn into big problems in the perception of messages in different countries. We are always ready to answer questions of interest, to give additional clarifications”, – the representative of the ministry recalled.
On March 2, US President Donald Trump, after signing a peace agreement with the Taliban*, announced that the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan would begin “immediately”. At the same time, he threatened that in case of violation of the terms of the deal, American troops would “rapidly” return to Afghanistan.
*“Taliban” – the organization was recognized as terrorist by the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of February 14, 2003.