A group of senators and State Duma deputies submitted a bill for consideration that will allow the temporary lifting of the ban on the activities of organizations recognized as terrorist in Russia. Among the authors of the project are State Duma deputies Vasily Piskarev and Andrey Lugovoy, as well as senators Andrey Klishas and Andrey Yatskin.
It is proposed to change the status by a court decision based on the statement of the Prosecutor General if there is data that the organization «has ceased activities aimed at propaganda, justification, and support of terrorism or committing crimes».
The explanatory note states that the current legislation of the Russian Federation does not provide a mechanism allowing the suspension of the ban on the activities of organizations from the «terrorist» list. The authors of the project propose to eliminate this legal collision.
The submission of the bill is most likely related to the Russian authorities' plans to exclude the «Taliban» organization from the list of terrorist organizations. One of the authors of the project, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Security and Anti-Corruption Ernest Valeev, told «Gazeta.ru» that the bill is being adopted not only for the sake of the «Taliban» but also concerns other organizations that have ceased «propaganda, justification, and support of terrorism». He also explained that Russians will be able to join the «Taliban» if the organization is excluded from the terrorist list, although he noted that «participation of citizens in organizations of foreign states is not encouraged».
In October, the special representative of the President of the Russian Federation for Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, stated that a decision had been made to exclude the «Taliban» movement from the list of terrorist organizations, «but it is still necessary to comply with the necessary legal procedures». On the day the bill was submitted to the State Duma, the Secretary of the Security Council of Russia, Sergey Shoigu, met with the Deputy Prime Minister of Afghanistan from the «Taliban» Abdul Ghani Baradar Akhund and confirmed plans to exclude the «Taliban» from the list of organizations banned in Russia and announced the «intention of Russia to increase the level of bilateral cooperation with Afghanistan».
* Recognized as a «terrorist» organization in Russia.