All the terrorists' friends. How Russia supports radical and extremist organisations in the Middle East

Vladimir Putin rose to power in 1999 on the wave of the fight against Islamic extremist terrorism. The dictator Saddam Hussein was ruling Iraq with a brutal hand, using fear and terror to stay in power; al-Qaeda was gaining strength to confront the United States of America; and terrorist attacks on US embassies had already taken place in Africa. Russia, for its part, launched the Second Chechen War, or, as Putin himself put it, an "anti-terrorist operation". One of the reasons given was to fight "armed terrorists".

Even now, Russia continues to persecute Muslims, mainly Crimean Tatars, in the temporarily occupied Crimea (Qırım). Russia also recognises some foreign Islamist groups, such as the Taliban, as 'terrorist organisations'. And it is "fighting" ISIS in Syria. At the same time, the Kremlin works directly with the Taliban, supports the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria and has direct ties with Hamas in Palestine.    

Svidomi explains how Russia supports terrorist regimes and organisations in the Middle East to destabilise the region and the geopolitical situation in the world.

This article was published as part of the special project "How Russia Undermines World Order".

Year of 2021. The United States finally leaves Afghanistan, withdrawing its troops and presence. In the summer, the Taliban, a radical Islamist movement formed in Afghanistan in the 1990s, seizes power in the country. Several countries recognise the Taliban as a terrorist organisation, including Russia. The United States recognises only a separate branch of the Taliban, operating in Pakistan, as a terrorist organisation. 

The US even uses the main Afghan branch for its own purposes — in the fight against al-Qaeda, which remains present in the war in Syria and Pakistan even after the killing of Osama bin Laden, the founder of the terrorist movement.

After seizing power, the Taliban began to implement radical policies in the country. They closed the Ministry of Women's Affairs, banned women from higher education and introduced the death penalty, although they try to hide it. Human Rights Watch reported that the Taliban killed or forcibly abducted more than 100 former members of the Afghan security forces within three months of seizing power. 

Despite this, Russia began building relations with the Taliban almost immediately after they seized power in Afghanistan. In August 2021, two days after the Taliban seized the presidential palace in Kabul, Russian Ambassador to Afghanistan Dmitry Zhirnov met with representatives of the militant group.

In September 2021, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova published a post praising the Taliban for "defeating the NATO coalition forces". Russia publicly describes NATO as its main enemy. The Russian government also urged the release of Afghanistan's frozen international reserves so that the new Taliban government could 'rebuild the country' with these funds. At the time, no one listened to Russia.

In 2022, representatives of the newly formed Taliban government in Afghanistan attended an economic forum in St Petersburg. It was their first visit to Russia, and the visits would be repeated as the Afghan Taliban government and Russia established diplomatic relations in March 2022. 

Following the terrorist attack on Moscow's Crocus City Hall in March 2024, Russia has only deepened its ties with the Taliban in a bid to use the movement in a new round of fighting against the Islamic State (ISIS). It was ISIS that claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack in Moscow. 

Taliban representatives attended the forum in St. Petersburg again in 2024, and Russia also provides financial support to the Taliban in Afghanistan, although this is difficult to prove.

But legally, Russia still considers the Taliban a terrorist organisation. Therefore, "Russia was careful to invite Taliban representatives to St. Petersburg who were not specifically targeted," DW writes. After all, the leaders of the radical movement should be arrested in Russia for 'terrorism'.

Kateryna Mikhalevska, an analyst with the civil network OPORA, says that the Kremlin is ready to overturn its own laws to benefit from cooperation with the Taliban.

"In May 2024, the Russian authorities announced their intention to remove the Taliban from the list of terrorist organisations to establish full interstate relations with them formally. Since the Taliban is now the only real power in Afghanistan, Russia is trying to build relations with the country's authorities despite the Taliban's ideology," Kateryna explains.  She adds that Russia is not the only country willing to recognise the Taliban's government.

"Several European countries (including Italy) are considering recognising the Taliban's government to have diplomatic relations with Afghanistan," says Mikhalevska.

And it is true. The European Union has been considering reopening its diplomatic mission in Afghanistan since 2021, although it has not yet expressed any plans to recognise the new government as official. The Taliban, in turn, refuse to recognise previous diplomatic missions established by the previous government of Afghanistan. The Taliban's position forces certain countries to coordinate diplomatic missions in Afghanistan with them and de facto recognise their government. This is what Russia did in 2021. Now, the Kremlin needs to do it de jure and remove the Taliban's status as a terrorist organisation. In doing so, Russia hopes to gain an ally not only in the "fight" against ISIS but also against NATO, the EU and the US.

On September 30, 2015, Russia launched a military intervention in Syria at the request of 'President' Bashar al-Assad. Assad has ruled the country since 2000, taking over from his father, Hafiz al-Assad.  Hafiz al-Assad had been in power since 1971. The Assads have established a harsh police dictatorship in Syria, based only partly on the radical minority sect of Shīʿite Muslims - Alawism. 

In 2011, a long civil war broke out in Syria, which continues to this day. Protesters tried to get rid of the Bashar al-Assad regime, but he suppressed the protests. These events led to an armed uprising and then to war. The rebels in Syria call themselves the Syrian Liberation Army and are fighting the Bashar al-Assad regime. 

Russia had been interfering in Syria's internal affairs even before the military intervention. From 2011 to 2012, Russia regularly vetoed UN Security Council decisions on Syria, preventing the UN from imposing sanctions on the Assad regime or launching a UN peacekeeping mission. Russia has supported the Assad regime with arms. In 2012, a Russian cargo ship carrying containers from the country's leading arms exporter was detained in Cyprus. It turned out that the weapons and ammunition were destined for Syria, for Assad's Syrian security forces. 

Another radical Islamic organisation, ISIS, entered the war in Syria. ISIS began by seizing territory in Syria and fighting against the regime. The organisation wanted to take over the country to establish another terrorist regime. 

Bypassing the UN Security Council, the United States intervened unilaterally in the Syrian civil war, but only to "defeat ISIS".  The United States, together with the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS (including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Türkiye and Denmark — ed.), carried out air strikes on ISIS positions and trained the rebels of the 'Syrian Liberation Army'. The United States did not fight the Assad regime in the hope that the rebels would overthrow it.

The US war against ISIS is part of the US war against radical terrorism around the world. The US has been actively involved in operations against al-Qaeda, the Taliban in Afghanistan, the Islamic State in Iraq, and even Islamic radicals in the Philippines etc. For the US, intervening in the war in Syria looked like a continuation of its own 'war on terror'. And in 2015, the US almost succeeded in defeating both ISIS in Syria and the Assad regime.  

In the spring of 2015, the fighting in Syria seemed tragic for the Assad regime. Rebels and ISIS were occupying new cities and territory separately, and the Assad government's army was suffering defeats. By May 2015, ISIS was approaching Palmyra, an ancient city in the centre of the country. ISIS controlled half of the country's territory, with the rest held by Syrian Liberation Army rebels. Assad asked Russia to intervene. 

Russia responded. It began bombing Syrian cities, mainly targeting Syrian Liberation Army rebels. In September and October 2016, Russia destroyed the rebel-held city of Aleppo. Russian troops would repeatedly destroy Aleppo and other Syrian cities.

In 2017, Russia began to establish its ground bases in Syria, increasing its presence and support for Bashar al-Assad. Under the pretext of Russian troops, Assad's security forces entered the destroyed cities and committed war crimes — kidnapping people, setting up torture prisons, raping and killing civilians. Assad's security forces also used chemical weapons. 

As recently as 2023, the Netherlands and Canada filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court against the Assad regime in Syria over allegations of mass torture. France has issued an arrest warrant for Bashar al-Assad and his brother Maher for the mass use of chemical weapons, including sarin and chlorine, against the Syrian people.

"Russia is supporting the Assad regime in Syria to gain influence in the Middle East and the Eastern Mediterranean," says Kateryna Mikhalevska, "and it is also using this to promote its image as one of the key world powers capable of leading anti-Western blocs. But at the same time, in 2015 and 2017, Russia and the United States coordinated their actions in the region in the fight against ISIS. Russia also has military bases in the Latakia Governorate — the region is next to Türkiye and Iraq, and this base serves as a strategic deterrent to US forces (and bases) in Iraq."

Despite waging a full-scale war against Ukraine since 2022, Russia remains present in Syria. That's because Russia has used Syria as a training ground for its soldiers and for testing weapons. In 2017, the Kremlin tested more than 600 weapons in Syria. The state-funded private military company Wagner has a permanent presence in Syria and has carried out various ground operations there.  

Russia is trying to gain economic and political advantages in Syria. Even the Wagner PMC receives 25 per cent of the output from gas and oil fields and phosphate mines in the areas it has 'liberated or defended'. The remaining profits are shared between the Assad government and Russian companies. This is not much money, given that the Assad regime is under US sanctions, but it is payment for Russia's services and the Kremlin's military support for the regime.

Politically, Russia is undermining the so-called 'unipolar world' it has declared itself to be fighting against, says analyst Kateryna Mikhalevska.

"Russia is looking for allies in the 'anti-Western' coalition among those who are willing to be part of this coalition — even if the organisation is recognised as terrorist in Russia. Moreover, supporting individual terrorist organisations provides Russia with a very effective tool for destabilising Western countries," she explains.

Russia also uses the fact that terrorist organisations and dictatorial regimes destabilise countries and regions around the world to shape its own information reality.

Terrorists' are those Russia calls terrorists. 'Nazis' are those Russia calls Nazis. Since Russian citizens in Russia are not involved in political decision-making, the current regime is not interested in its actions being logical or justified. "Russian 'President' Vladimir Putin has publicly stated that the response to the transfer of Western weapons to Ukraine will be for Russia to transfer weapons to 'enemies of the West' — which may include countries or organisations recognised as terrorists in the West," Kateryna Mikhalevska sums up Russia's constant involvement in almost all conflicts in the Middle East. 

Back in 2022, US President Joe Biden refused to designate Russia as a 'state sponsor of terrorism'. The White House explained that recognising Russia as a 'state sponsor of terrorism' would affect global food security, as Russia had actively attacked the Ukrainian Odesa Sea Port, used to export grain. This status "could also seriously hamper the ability to provide aid to Ukrainian regions". 

"It will also undercut unprecedented multilateral conditions that have been so effective in holding [Russian President Vladimir] Putin accountable and could also undermine our ability to support Ukraine at the negotiating table," said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

Analyst Kateryna Mykhalevska believes that the US will not recognise Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism for two reasons. First, America will lose the opportunity to normalise diplomatic relations.

"The US administration has repeatedly stressed that it is not seeking the break-up of Russia into separate states or a complete break in contacts. The US is trying not to "push Russia into the arms of China" — there is a consensus that this could strengthen an international anti-American bloc. In addition, the United States continues to view Russia as a country that has made a positive contribution to the global fight against Islamic terrorism, particularly ISIS," she explains the first reason.

The second reason is the secondary sanctions that would be imposed on American and European companies that continue to do business in Russia, even if that business is not directly related to the war.

In December, the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling for Russia to be recognised as a state sponsor of terrorism. The Parliament called on the European Union and its member states to establish an appropriate legal framework and to consider adding Russia to such a list. 

"Parliament calls on the European Union to further isolate Russia internationally, including when it comes to Russia’s membership of international organisations and bodies such as the United Nations Security Council. MEPs also want diplomatic ties with Russia to be reduced, EU contacts with official Russian representatives to be kept to the absolute minimum and Russian state-affiliated institutions in the EU spreading propaganda around the world to be closed and banned," the European Parliament’s statement reads.

The European Parliament's resolutions are not binding, so the European Union has not yet drawn up a list of state sponsors of terrorism and has not included Russia on such a list. The EU is now imposing sanctions on Russia to undermine its economy.

Kateryna Mikhalevska believes that the European Union will not take a decision on creating a list of state sponsors of terrorism any time soon and will not include Russia because there is no consensus in the Union on this issue.

"Countries like Austria and Hungary do not agree that Russia's actions meet the necessary criteria. Currently, the EU does not have all the necessary mechanisms to fully recognise states as terrorists," she says. 

In 2024, US senators called for a bill to recognise Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism, but only after Russia signed a cooperation agreement with North Korea. The US designated North Korea a state sponsor of terrorism in 2017. 

"Russia deserves to be in this small, selective club of killers who commit atrocities," said Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal. 

However, the bill has not yet been considered by the US Congress, although the Senate believes that "there is bipartisan support in Congress for legislation to designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism". This will leave Russia unpunished for helping to fuel radical and terrorist movements in the Middle East.