All news

Terrorists try to infiltrate neighboring countries in refugees' disguise — Lavrov

The current task on the agenda is to ease the effects of and control migration flows from Afghanistan, the Russian Foreign Minister pointed out

MOSCOW, October 27. /TASS/. Terrorists disguised as refugees have been trying to infiltrate neighboring countries. These attempts must be resisted by all means, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in a video message to participants in a ministerial level meeting of Afghanistan's neighbors (Russia, China, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan).

"The current task on the agenda is to ease the effects of and control migration flows from Afghanistan, because terrorist and criminal elements posing as refugees may infiltrate neighboring countries and have already been trying to do so," he said.

"This goal can be achieved only by creating normal conditions in Afghanistan. In the long term this will be a major prerequisite for the gradual return of Afghans to their homes," Lavrov said.

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. The radicals entered the capital Kabul on August 15 without encountering any resistance. President Ashraf Ghani stepped down and left the country. On September 6, the Taliban said they had put the whole of the country' territory under control and on September 7 they announced an interim Cabinet, whose legitimacy has not been recognized by any country yet.