Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Friday that a decision to remove the Taliban from a list of terrorist organizations had been "taken at the highest level," the state TASS news agency reported on Friday.

The decision needs to be followed up with various legal procedures in order to make it a reality, President Vladimir Putin's special representative on Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov was quoted as saying.

Putin said in July that Russia considers Afghanistan's Taliban movement an ally in the fight against terrorism.

Russia has been slowly building ties with the Taliban since it seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021 as U.S.-led forces withdrew after 20 years of war but the movement is still officially outlawed in Russia.

Moscow formally labeled the Taliban a terrorist organization in 2003.