Russian chairman of CIS security body reports success in combating drugs
ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow
11 Mar 05
United Nations, 11 March: Combating drugs is one of the most effective
directions of work of the Collective Security Treaty Organization
(CSTO), its secretary-general, Nikolay Bordyuzha, told ITAR-TASS. A
presentation ceremony of CSTO, an international regional organization,
embracing Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and
Tajikistan, was held at the UN headquarters on 10 March.
“As a result of several successful operations we have reached a
very high level of interaction among CSTO members,” Bordyuzha said.
“Together with the six member-states, Iran, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan
took part in the latest operation, known under the code name of Kanal
[Russ: canal],” he added. This helped create a “antidrug security
belt along Afghanistan’s northern borders”, he said.
The effectiveness of the CSTO work in combating drugs cannot be
measured in confiscated kilograms and tonnes of narcotics alone,
Bordyuzha said. “We have reached a new level of coordination among
appropriate antidrug structures. This helps us create the necessary
data bank, and conduct so-called controlled deliveries,” he added.
At the same time Bordyuzha acknowledged that one could only reduce
the flow of drugs from Afghanistan with the use of prohibitive
measures. “Afghanistan should be restored, relevant power-wielding
structures should be created and interact properly, and stability
should come to stay,” he said.