Putin discusses Afghanistan with Italian PM

MOSCOW (TASS): Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday in a telephone conversation with Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi discussed the situation in Afghanistan and post-conflict reconstruction in this country, the Kremlin press service reported.
“The exchange of views on the situation in Afghanistan continued. Both sides expressed their intention to cooperate in order to prevent the risks of the spread of terrorism, extremism and drug-related crime,” the message says.
“Particular attention is paid to the topic of post-conflict reconstruction of Afghanistan, including in relation to the activities of the G20, which Italy is chairing this year,” the Kremlin added. In this context, the issues of the up-coming G20 summit were discussed, the report says. The conversation between Putin and Draghi also st-ressed “the importance of establishing an inter-Afg-han dialogue, taking into account the interests of all groups of the population.”
In addition, the President of the Russian Federation informed the Italian Prime Minister about the agreements reached during the meetings of the Collective Security Treaty Organiza-tion and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Dushanbe on September 16-17, as well as a joint meeting of the leaders of the countries participating in both organizations.
“Topical issues of bilateral relations and the fight against the coronavirus pandemic were also considered. A schedule of upcoming contacts was discussed,” Kremlin added.
Moscow accused Washington of visa manipulation: The Russian Foreign Ministry, commenting on the refusal of the United States to issue a visa to the chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs Leonid Slutsky , said that Washington is openly abusing the privilege of hosting the UN headquarters and manipulating visas to put pressure on other countries.
Earlier Slutsky told RIA Novosti that will not go for a week of high-level session of the General Assembly of the UN, since the US did not issue him a visa. He was supposed to go to New York in accordance with the order of the President of the Russian Federation as part of the Russian delegation.