RUSSIAN SECURITY COUNCIL SECRETARY RULES OUT POSSIBILITY OF NEGOTIATIONS WITH TALEBAN - MOSCOW

Moscow opposes any negotiations with the Taleban movement controlling 90% of Afghanistan's territory, Secretary of Russia's Security Council Sergei Ivanov has announced. "Our position has not changed - any negotiations are out of the question. On the contrary, we believe the world community should toughen the sanctions against the Taleban, severely punishing those who give them financial and military assistance or have any other contacts" Ivanov told the Russian daily Komsomolskaya Pravda. "What order is there in Afghanistan? There is nothing there other than the Middle Ages and drug production, sheer ideological brainwashing and support of religious extremism," he said. "With the arrival of the Taleban, Afghanistan became a territory where outcasts throughout the world come, those who know that one can hide from justice there. As for the national issue, we have never said that the government of Afghanistan should be mono-ethnic. We encourage the Taleban to start a dialogue with the government of Afghanistan, which is recognised by the entire world, in order to form a coalition government," the Security Council secretary said.