The head of the Federal Drug Control Service said Wednesday that Russia would seek to get Afghan drug production recognized as an international security threat when it takes over the chairmanship of the United Nations Security Council in August.
“Our country is the main victim of Afghan drug production, so Russia itself should lead a global movement to eliminate it,” Viktor Ivanov said at a meeting of the State Anti-Drug Committee, Interfax reported.
He complained that a decline in efforts by the West to eliminate Afghanistan’s poppy fields was leading to an increase in heroin trafficking into Russia.
“The UN has distanced itself from running its programs in the field, handing it over to NATO, while NATO passed the responsibility of fighting drug production in Afghanistan to the national or even provincial levels of that country,” he said.
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