Russia said f*** off to Taliban ten years ago

Ten years ago, Taliban offered Moscow to join forces in the struggle against the United States of America.

Sergei Ivanov, the chairman of the presidential administration, said in the first episode of "Putin, Russia and the West" documentary that it happened during the first several days after the beginning of the military operation in Afghanistan.

In 2001, Ivanov served as the Defense Minister. "Talibs contacted our border guards on the border between Tajikistan and Afghanistan. They said that they had the power, nearly from Mullah Omar, to offer Taliban and Russia to join forces against the USA," the official said.

Moscow said no. "That was the suggestion, to which we responded with a well-known gesture of the middle finger - f*** off," Ivanov said.

Recollecting the beginning of the war in Afghanistan, Sergei Ivanov explained why he took the tough position in the question about the USA's use of the Asian territories of the former Soviet Union.

"We were worried that the expansion of the US presence in the region would lead to bossy teachings of democracy. It could also trigger undesirable for Russia political processes in the region," Ivanov stressed out.