Russia claims Afghanistan’s president fled with 'four cars and helicopter full of cash'

Russia has claimed that Afghanistan’s president fled the country with four cars and a helicopter stuffed full of cash.

President Ashraf Ghani is believed to have fled to Tajikistan as the Taliban took control of Kabul at the weekend.

Triumphant Taliban fighters were pictured celebrating in the vacated presidential palace in the capital.

But Russia has claimed that Ghani fled with four vehicles and a helicopter, all filled with money.

Russian state news agency RIA quoted a spokesman from its country’s embassy in Kabul about details of Ghani’s departure, Reuters reported.

RIA claimed the president was forced to leave some money behind as it would not fit inside all the vehicles.

“As for the collapse of the regime, it is most eloquently characterised by the way Ghani fled Afghanistan," Nikita Ishchenko, a spokesman for the Russian embassy in Kabul, was quoted as saying by RIA.

Watch: Footage appears to show people clinging to side of US plane amid chaos at Kabul airport

"Four cars were full of money, they tried to stuff another part of the money into a helicopter, but not all of it fit.

“And some of the money was left lying on the tarmac.”

Ischenko later stood by his comments, telling Reuters that the source of the information came from “witnesses”.

Russian president Vladimir Putin’s special representative on Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, said it was unclear how much money the fleeing government would leave behind.

"I hope the government that has fled did not take all the money from the state budget,” he told Moscow's Ekho Moskvy radio station.

“It will be the bedrock of the budget if something is left.”

Thousands of people gathered at Kabul’s international airport on Monday in a desperate effort to flee Afghanistan after the Taliban regained control of the country.

It was reported that at least five people were killed at the airport.

The US said its troops were forced to fire shots into the air to stop crowds of Afghans trying to board American military planes reserved for the evacuation of its embassy staff.

Ghani said he left Afghanistan to avoid bloodshed on the streets of Kabul.

While the US and UK embassies in Kabul have been emptied, Russia said it had no plans to evacuate its staff.

Russia says it has been in touch with the Taliban through its embassy.

Russia hopes to develop ties with the Taliban even as it says it is no rush to recognise them as the country's rulers, and will closely observe their behaviour.

On Sunday, Russia laid the blame for the return of the Taliban at the door of the US.

Kabulov said the Taliban was “deservedly” declared a terrorist group in Russia 20 years ago, the Associated Press news agency reported.

He said: “The Taliban have learned this lesson well. If they haven’t learned it in full, they will have to face great difficulties in relations not only with Russia, but with the entire global community.”

But Kabulov also said last month that the Taliban’s advance in Afghanistan was good for Russia’s security as it would suppress jihadi groups.

On Monday, he said Russia does not view the Taliban as a threat to Central Asia.

Watch: Afghan president flees country as Taliban advance on Kabul