Press Release of the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to NATO
Georgian aggression against South Ossetia yet again confirmed the fragility of the existing system of Euroatlantic security and its inability to address contemporary read more...
|
|
Russia’s cooperation with the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan should depend on just how that force fights drug trafficking. This came in Russian ambassador to NATO Dmitry Rogozin’s answer to a question from the Interfax news agency, but nor should the problem be tied to NATO’s cargo transit via Russia, the official added. According to the Russian diplomat, the continuous performance of the ISAF clearly meets Moscow’s interests. Rogozin came out for a closer cooperation between NATO and CSTO in fighting Afghan drug trafficking
NATO should play a greater role in the fight against Afghan drug production in return for Russian assistance on transit to the war-ravaged state, Russia's NATO envoy said on Wednesday. "Further assistance to the coalition should be determined by a more active stance in fighting drug production in Afghanistan," Dmitry Rogozin said. "We are not satisfied when the U.S. destroys coca crops in Latin America and says that this is not the method in Afghanistan," he said. He also said NATO's belief that the Afghan economy should be improved before poppy fields are eradicated would come back to haunt the alliance. "These things are not related to each other," Rogozin said. "Even rich countries have drug production"
The very best minds in the anti-narcotics business have gathered for a major conference in Moscow to talk about the drugs flow from Afghanistan – something that is far more destructive than terrorism. Russia is thought the main victim of the Afghan drugs trade. Still, the use of drugs is consistent globally and many countries suffer from it. Of course it is not only the problem of dealing with drug addicts but also first and foremost the issue of tackling drug trafficking and drug production, which Afghanistan is notorious for. Local peasants there head the production line
Afghanistan needs a trustworthy government respected by the majority of the multinational Afghan population to tackle heroin production in the country, shared Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Sergey Ivanov. “It is very risky to incorporate pro-Taliban fighters and particularly their leaders into the new political structure of Afghanistan,” Ivanov said, pointing out that “calling them international terrorists today and legitimate authorities of Afghanistan tomorrow would be stretching things a little bit too far.”
Profits from the Afghan drugs trade fund riots and disturbances all over the world, Russia's drugs control chief said on Wednesday. "The Afghan drugs threat is a global problem. Profits from the trade of Afghan drugs fund riots and disturbances in various parts of the world, including in Europe and Russia," Viktor Ivanov said before the opening of an international anti-drug forum in Moscow. He said he regretted that European leaders do not fully realize the scale of this problem, although it is particularly acute in central and eastern Europe. He named Kosovo as a general distributer of Afghan drugs. "We can safely say that the large-scale drug threat from Afghanistan is connected to terrorism threats around the world; we must fight it together," he said
"We are convinced of the need to qualify the Afghan drug threat in the UN Security Council as a threat to international peace and security," Lavrov said at a two-day Moscow forum on Afghan drug production. He also called for NATO forces to take a more active role in eradicating poppy fields and drug laboratories in Afghanistan. Russia's top diplomat said the battle against drugs in Afghanistan should be "no less determined than the fight against cocaine production in Latin America." Russia's NATO envoy said earlier on Wednesday that NATO should play a greater role in the fight against Afghan drug production in return for Russian assistance on transit to the war-ravaged state
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has appealed to the world to prevent the drug crime from going global, since drugs nurture terrorism, among others things. Practice shows that the lack of an effective struggle against the drug business nurtures other problems, above all, such a terrible problem as terrorism, Medvedev said during the opening ceremony of an anti-drug forum in Moscow today. The forum is titled “Afghan drug production – a challenge to the international community”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has called for dealing with drug production in Afghanistan just as effectively as cocaine production is being fought in Latin America. Opium poppy plantations and heroin labs should be wiped out, he told the international forum “Afghan Drug Production – a Challenge to the International Community”, which is under way in Moscow. We are certain of the need to treat the Afghan drug threat at the UN Security Council as a threat to international peace and security, he added. Russia’s topmost diplomat feels that the ISAF coalition force in Afghanistan should come to grips with the drug industry problem
Drug addiction poses a serious threat to Russian development, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said at the International anti-drugs forum in Moscow. "We consider drug addiction the most serious threat to the development of our country and the health of our people," Medvedev said. The president called on the international community to prevent the global spread of drug crimes that fuel terrorism. He said the problem of drug trafficking affects, "a significant part of Europe, the United States and Canada." Medvedev called on the international community not to politicize the fight against drugs
The Russian Defense Ministry has no intention of increasing the number of its military bases abroad, the chairman of the Defense and Security Committee of the Security Council, Viktor Ozerov, told reporters on Wednesday. The official announced this after a closed session of the Russian government. Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said at this session that the maintenance of the military bases abroad is too costly and that Russia already has four such bases, which is sufficient. Ozerov also said that in the course of the ongoing military reform Russia would cut the personnel of its Black Sea Fleet, which is based mainly in Ukraine’s city of Sevastopol. At the same time, the ministry will send new weapons and hardware to the fleet to compensate for the reduction, the official said
Russia believes the Afghan drug trade badly undermines stability in former Soviet Central Asia and the Russian Caucasus. It also calls attention to the role of this trade in making Europe the world’s worst drug abusing continent in per capita terms. The chief Russian counternarcotics officer Victor Ivanov told this to the media in Moscow on Monday. He said Afghanistan is turning out two times more heroin than a decade ago and this deadly stuff has already left a million people dead and 16 million severely disabled.. The main importer of Afghan drugs into Europe is the underworld of Kosovo
|
Important Issues
June 08, 2010
The first weekly media briefing in June by the Russian MFA Spokesman Andrey Nesterenko
|
April 30, 2010
Sergey Lavrov at the 61st Parliamentary Assembly Session
|
Documents
August 18, 2008
Statement of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
June 5, 2008
Dmitry Medvedev's Speech at Meeting with German Political, Parliamentary and Civic Leaders
April 4, 2008
Chairmans statement: Meeting of the NATO-Russia Council at the level of Heads of State and Government held in Bucharest
April 3, 2008
Bucharest Summit Declaration, issued by the Heads of State and Government participating in the meeting of the North Atlantic Council in Bucharest on 3 April 2008
February 22, 2007
Vladimir Putin's Speech and the Following Discussion at the Munich Conference on Security Policy
All documents
|
