President Putin Reaffirms: Russia Will Not Send Its Servicemen To Afghanistan

Vladimir Putin reaffirmed that no Russian soldiers would fight in Afghanistan. "Sending any Russian units to Afghanistan is out of question, and will not happen," the Russian President stated answering live the question asked by a student from Kazan. According to Putin, Russia has "clear and comprehensible objectives, namely: we don't want Afghanistan to produce drugs which are subsequently smuggled to Russia, we don't want Afghanistan to train terrorists who are subsequently sent to Russia, we want Afghanistan to be a neutral and friendly country. That is it. We don't want anything else," the President emphasised. Vladimir Putin stated that Russia had supported the efforts of international community targeted at "combating terrorism spawning on the Afghan territory." And now Russia is rendering humanitarian aid to the people of Afghanistan. "Afghans appreciate what we are doing," the President stated adding that "the effectiveness of our actions in this sphere" had been appreciated by both Russian and foreign experts. "We will continue doing this. Sending any military contingent to Afghanistan is out of question, and it will not happen," Vladimir Putin said.