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Romania Receives US Patriot Missiles to Bolster Defenses

A photograph made available on 13 February 2016 showing a patriot missile system unveiled by the US military during the joint South Korea-US aerial exercise Max Thunder in 2014. [Stringer/EPA]
A photograph made available on 13 February 2016 showing a patriot missile system unveiled by the US military during the joint South Korea-US aerial exercise Max Thunder in 2014. [Stringer/EPA]
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Romania Receives US Patriot Missiles to Bolster Defenses

A photograph made available on 13 February 2016 showing a patriot missile system unveiled by the US military during the joint South Korea-US aerial exercise Max Thunder in 2014. [Stringer/EPA]
A photograph made available on 13 February 2016 showing a patriot missile system unveiled by the US military during the joint South Korea-US aerial exercise Max Thunder in 2014. [Stringer/EPA]

The Romanian army received its first shipment of US Raytheon Patriot surface-to-air missiles on Thursday to boost its defenses.

“Romania has just become a safer nation by hosting these Patriot missiles on its territory. Romanian citizens are now better protected,” Prime Minister Ludovic Orban said at the receiving ceremony at a firing range on the Black Sea shore.

The missiles will form part of an integrated air defense system comprising newly acquired F-16 fighter jets as Romania brings its obsolete military equipment up to NATO standards and phases out outdated communist-era MiGs.

Worth about $4 billion, the system is an important element of the European Union and NATO member’s overhaul program as it seeks to deter any threat from Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin had repeatedly said Moscow views US missiles in eastern Europe as a great danger, and Moscow would be forced to respond by enhancing its own missile strike capability.

The US has demanded that NATO members gradually boost their defense budgets to 2% of GDP and Romania, a close US ally, was among first in Europe to do so, Reuters reported.

Romania also hosts a US ballistic missile defense station and has contributed combat troops to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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Russia Removes Afghan Taliban from List of Banned Terrorist Groups

Russia's Supreme Court judge Oleg Nefyodov delivers a verdict lifting a ban on Afghanistan's Taliban, who were designated as a terrorist group more than two decades ago, in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP)
Russia's Supreme Court judge Oleg Nefyodov delivers a verdict lifting a ban on Afghanistan's Taliban, who were designated as a terrorist group more than two decades ago, in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP)
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Russia Removes Afghan Taliban from List of Banned Terrorist Groups

Russia's Supreme Court judge Oleg Nefyodov delivers a verdict lifting a ban on Afghanistan's Taliban, who were designated as a terrorist group more than two decades ago, in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP)
Russia's Supreme Court judge Oleg Nefyodov delivers a verdict lifting a ban on Afghanistan's Taliban, who were designated as a terrorist group more than two decades ago, in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP)

Russia on Thursday suspended its ban on the Taliban, which it had designated for more than two decades as a terrorist organization, in a move that paves the way for Moscow to normalize ties with the leadership of Afghanistan.

No country currently recognizes the Taliban government that seized power in August 2021 as US-led forces staged a chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan after 20 years of war. But Russia has been gradually building relations with the movement, which President Vladimir Putin said last year was now an ally in fighting terrorism.

The Taliban was outlawed by Russia as a terrorist movement in 2003. State media said the Supreme Court on Thursday lifted the ban with immediate effect.

Russia sees a need to work with the Taliban as it faces a major security threat from extremist militant groups based in a string of countries from Afghanistan to the Middle East.

"Russia aims to build mutually beneficial ties with Afghanistan in all areas, including the fight against drugs and terrorism," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. It added that Moscow was grateful to Afghanistan for military operations against the local branch of ISIS.

Moscow also aims to strengthen trade, business and investment ties with Kabul, leveraging Afghanistan's strategic position for future energy and infrastructure projects, the ministry statement said.

In March 2024, gunmen killed 145 people at a concert hall outside Moscow in an attack claimed by ISIS. US officials said they had intelligence indicating it was the Afghan branch of the group, ISIS Khorasan (ISIS-K), that was responsible.

The Taliban says it is working to wipe out the presence of ISIS in Afghanistan.

Western diplomats say the Taliban's path towards wider international recognition is blocked until it changes course on women's rights. The Taliban has closed high schools and universities to girls and women and placed restrictions on their movement without a male guardian.