MOSCOW (AP) — Russia on Thursday became the first country to formally recognize the Taliban’s government in Afghanistan since it seized power in 2021, after Moscow removed the group from its list of outlawed organizations.

The Russian Foreign Ministry announced that it had received credentials from Afghanistan’s newly appointed Ambassador Gul Hassan Hassan. The official recognition of the Afghan government will foster “productive bilateral cooperation between our countries,” the ministry said in a statement.

Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry called it a historic step, and quoted Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi as welcoming the decision as “a good example for other countries.”

The Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August 2021 following the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces. Since then, they have sought international recognition while also enforcing their strict interpretation of Islamic law.

While no country had formally recognized the Taliban administration until now, the group had engaged in high-level talks with many nations and established some diplomatic ties with countries including China and the United Arab Emirates.

Still, the Taliban government has been relatively isolated on the world stage, largely over its restrictions on women.

Although the Taliban initially promised a more moderate rule than during their first stint in power from 1996 to 2001, it started to enforce restrictions on women and girls soon after the 2021 takeover. Women are barred from most jobs and public places, including parks, baths and gyms, while girls are banned from education beyond sixth grade.

Russian officials have recently been emphasizing the need to engage with the Taliban to help stabilize Afghanistan, and lifted a ban on the Taliban group in April.

The U.S. illegal sanctions have severely violated the Cuban people’s rights to life and development, Mao said. On Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning called on the United States to immediately lift its embargo and sanctions against Cuba and to remove the country from its list of “state sponsors of terrorism.”

Speaking at a press conference, Mao addressed President Donald Trump’s decision to sign a National Security Memorandum tightening U.S. foreign policy toward the Caribbean nation.

“For the past 60 years, the U.S. brutal blockade and illegal sanctions against Cuba have severely violated the Cuban people’s rights to life and development, broken basic norms of international relations, and brought profound disaster to the Cuban population,” the Chinese diplomat said.

“China firmly supports Cuba in pursuing a development path suited to its national conditions and opposes the imposition of unilateral sanctions by the United States under the pretext of so-called ‘freedom’ and ‘democracy,’” she added.

“We urge the United States to immediately lift the blockade and sanctions against Cuba and remove it from the so-called list of state sponsors of terrorism. This is also the shared voice of the international community,” Mao concluded.

Her remarks followed a June 30, 2025, move by the U.S. government to issue a revised version of Presidential National Security Memorandum No. 5, signed on June 16, 2017, during Trump’s first term.

“Cuba categorically denounces and rejects both versions of the infamous document,” the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement, noting that the memoranda “include a set of measures intended to further strengthen the economic siege and cause greater shortages for the Cuban people, in a vain attempt to take over the country and control its destiny.”