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Putin on a trip abroad in Asia: Now he's even looking to get close to an Islamist terrorist organization

2022-06-29T03:20:58.718Z


Putin on a trip abroad in Asia: Now he's even looking to get close to an Islamist terrorist organization Created: 2022-06-29Updated: 2022-06-29 05:15 By: Florian Naumann Vladimir Putin wants to improve Russia's relations with the Taliban. © IMAGO/Maksim Blinov Vladimir Putin's first trip since invading Ukraine is to Tajikistan. There, the head of the Kremlin declared that he wanted to get clos


Putin on a trip abroad in Asia: Now he's even looking to get close to an Islamist terrorist organization

Created: 2022-06-29Updated: 2022-06-29 05:15

By: Florian Naumann

Vladimir Putin wants to improve Russia's relations with the Taliban.

© IMAGO/Maksim Blinov

Vladimir Putin's first trip since invading Ukraine is to Tajikistan.

There, the head of the Kremlin declared that he wanted to get closer to the Taliban.

  • Vladimir Putin's first trip abroad since the start of the Ukraine war: the Kremlin chief's first stop is Tajikists.

  • Kremlin chief wants to improve relations with the Taliban in Afghanistan: in Russia they are considered an Islamist terrorist organization.

  • This

    news ticker on Putin's first trip abroad since the beginning of the war

    is constantly updated.

Update from June 28, 7:09 p.m .:

Vladimir Putin apparently wants to expand Russia’s influence in Asia.

Because relations with the West have hit rock bottom because of the war in Ukraine, Moscow is planning to improve relations with the militant Islamist Taliban in Afghanistan.

"We are doing everything we can to normalize the situation in the country and try to build relations with the political forces that control the situation," Putin said during a visit to the ex-Soviet republic of Tajikistan, which borders Afghanistan, according to the Interfax news agency.

The Taliban are officially considered an Islamist terrorist organization in Russia.

Tajikistan is Putin's first trip abroad since the start of the Ukraine war.

Speaking to authoritarian Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon, the Kremlin chief said he wanted to get an idea of ​​the situation in Central Asia.

He spoke of a "common responsibility" for stability in the region.

First report from June 28, 2022:

Moscow/Dushanbe – Vladimir Putin is leaving Russia on Tuesday (June 28) for the first time since the start of the Ukraine war he instigated.

The Kremlin chief visits Central Asian Tajikistan.

His last trip abroad had taken him to China in early February - at that time there was a demonstrative solidarity with the Chinese head of state Xi Jinping.

It remains to be seen whether the Russian President will be welcomed with open arms this time: a summit meeting with the countries bordering the Caspian Sea in Turkmenistan is also on the agenda for Wednesday.

Criticism could also be raised there – albeit in a rather cautious tone.

Vladimir Putin travels to Central Asia in the Ukraine war - interlocutors on Wednesday could criticize

The participants in the round in Turkmenistan, in addition to the host country, are Iran, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.

While Iran, for example, is one of Moscow's loyal supporters, there has recently been criticism from Kazakhstan.

The country does not want to recognize the self-proclaimed "people's republics" of Donetsk and Luhansk.

At the same time, the government criticized media loyal to Putin for their reporting on Kazakhstan, as reported by the portal

The Moscow Times

, among others.

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However, the country under authoritarian ruler Kassym-Jomart Tokayev is attempting a balancing act between Russia and the West.

As recently as January, Russia sent military aid to quell mass protests in Kazakhstan.

In mid-June, however, Tokayev then emphasized the right to territorial integrity.

That's why they don't recognize Taiwan, Kosovo, Abkhazia or South Ossetia.

"And this principle obviously also applies to quasi-state areas like Donetsk and Luhansk."

There is also potential for conflict with Azerbaijan.

The country also did not recognize Donetsk and Luhansk - and has strong ties with Ukraine.

According to the United State Institute for Peace, the reason for this is, among other things, that Ukraine supported Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

However, open confrontation is not to be expected.

Azerbaijan abstained from a UN General Assembly resolution against the Ukraine war, as the website

Geopolitical Monitor

points out in an analysis.

Putin most recently stayed in Russia – hardly ever traveled during the Ukraine war and Corona

Since the outbreak of the corona pandemic, Putin had generally made himself rare on the international stage.

Between February 2020 and February 2022 he only traveled abroad three times.

He met US President Joe Biden in Geneva in June 2021 and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi in December 2021.

This reluctance has recently fueled – unconfirmed – rumors about Putin's state of health.

Putin had repeatedly met the Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko, but always in Russia.

Similar to these meetings, however, it could now also be a matter of underscoring Russia's supremacy in the former Soviet area.

However, there will hardly have been any critical words from Lukashenko.

It remains to be seen whether the Central Asia trip will destroy the "information vacuum" in the Kremlin diagnosed by the West.

(

fn/dpa

)

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2022-06-29

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