The Afghan interior ministry told AFP that a suicide attacker was shot dead by Taliban guards at the embassy.
“It was a suicide attack, but before the bomber could reach his target, he was targeted by our forces and eliminated,” Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Nafy Takor told AFP.
Asked whether the target was the Russian embassy, Takor said: “Yes.”
An Afghan civilian was killed and several others wounded in the attack, he said.
“Without any doubt, we are talking about a terrorist act, which is absolutely unacceptable,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists.
Violence in Afghanistan has largely declined since the Taliban returned to power last year, but several bomb blasts — some targeting minority communities — have rocked the country in recent months.