Russian President Vladimir Putin at a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel following their talks in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Friday, Aug. 20, 2021.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday criticised the politics of "imposing foreign rules from outside" during a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Merkel was in Moscow to discuss the crisis in Afghanistan, the separatist conflict in Ukraine and Moscow’s treatment of imprisoned Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, among other issues.
Speaking about Afghanistan, Putin said the "irresponsible politics of imposing foreign values from outside must be stopped".
He went on to say that Russia learned itself how counterproductive it is to impose foreign forms of government on Afghanistan, referencing the Soviet invasion of the country that ended in withdrawal in 1989.
He added that "it's important to prevent the incursion of terrorists to countries neighbouring Afghanistan".
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