Russia has accredited an Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) official to work in Moscow on behalf of the new Kabul administration but remains concerned about the threat of Islamist groups spilling over into Russia via Central Asia, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday.

Despite not having officially recognized the IEA as the government of Afghanistan, this move comes after a number of meetings between Kabul and Moscow and the Kremlin’s attempt last year to get the former government and IEA to reach a peace agreement.

Speaking however at an Afghanistan-focused conference in China, Lavrov also said that growing trade and economic ties between Afghanistan and countries in the region was contributing to the possibility of international recognition of their administration.

He said an IEA envoy was already active in Moscow.

“I would like to note that the first Afghan diplomat who arrived in Moscow last month and was sent by the new authorities has received accreditation at the Russian Foreign Ministry,” he said.

Lavrov also said that Russia is worried about the potential for fallout in the wider region and the possibility of Islamist militants infiltrating the former Soviet republics of Central Asia, which Russia views as its southern defensive buffer, Reuters reported.

“The plans of the Islamic State and its supporters to destabilize Central Asian states and export instability to Russia are of particular concern,” Lavrov said.

“The build-up of detachments of Jamaat Ansarullah and the Islamic Movement Uzbekistan around the Afghan-Tajik and Afghan-Uzbek borders are an alarming sign.”

Since the IEA takeover last year, Moscow has held military exercises in Tajikistan and bolstered hardware at its military base there.

However, the foreign ministers of Iran and Pakistan have expressed concern about the activities of terrorist groups on Afghan soil.

“China and Pakistan, as Afghanistan’s neighbors, have a common interest in peace and stability and do not want terrorism in Afghanistan. We are concerned about the activities of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and China is concerned about the activities of the East Turkestan Islamic Group.

“We share our concerns with our Afghan friends, but we both agree on Afghanistan’s economic stability. We believe that connecting Afghanistan is in the interest of Pakistan and China.”

At the meeting, the Iranian foreign minister also expressed his country’s concern over Daesh activities in Afghanistan.