Putin against sending Afghan refugees to central Asian countries

Russian Presideny Vladimir Putin on Sunday rejected the idea of sending Afghan refugees and evacuees to central Asian nations. He indicated that such a move would be a threat to Moscow and he did not want "militants showing up here under cover of refugees", Russian news agencies reported.

Central Asian nations were formerly part of Soviet Russia and the area is still considered to be a Russian backyard.

Putin criticised the idea floated by some Western countries to relocate refugees from Afghanistan to neighbouring Central Asian countries while their visas to the United States and Europe are being processed.

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"Does that mean that they can be sent without visas to those countries, to our neighbours, while they themselves (the West) don't want to take them without visas?" TASS news agency quoted Putin as telling leaders of the ruling United Russia party."Why is there such a humiliating approach to solving the problem?"

The United States reportedly held secret talks with a number of countries in a desperate attempt to secure deals to temporarily house at-risk Afghans who worked for the US government, Reuters reported last week.

Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) is due to discuss Afghanistan on Monday (August 23). CSTO is a military alliance of ex-Soviet republics led by Russia.

(With inputs from agencies)