President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Russia would not deploy its armed forces to Afghanistan to take part in a conflict and that Moscow had learned the lessons of the Soviet Union's decade-long failed intervention there.
Putin was speaking to a congress of the ruling United Russia party.
"It goes without saying that we do not plan to interfere in Afghanistan's domestic affairs let alone deploy our armed forces in a conflict," said Putin.
"The USSR had its own experience in that country. We have drawn the necessary lessons."
Soviet forces left Afghanistan in 1989.