Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow is attempting to build relations with the Islamic Emirate and that Russia wants to see all the ethnic groups in Afghanistan take part in running the country. 

He made the statement in a meeting with Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon during the Russian leader’s first trip abroad since the beginning of the Ukraine conflict. 

“We are doing everything so that the situation in that country normalizes,” Putin said in Dushanbe, as quoted by AP. “We are attempting to build relations with the political forces that control the situation.” 

“We are working from the premise that all ethnic groups in Afghanistan, as was already said, must properly participate in running the country,” he said. 

The Islamic Emirate earlier sent a diplomatic delegation to Russia to head the embassy of Afghanistan in Moscow.  

Moscow has invited the Islamic Emirate to a number of conferences held to discuss the situation in Afghanistan.  

The Russian embassy has remained active in Kabul since the fall of the former government of President Ashraf Ghani.