Russia says joint effort needed to fight Afghan drug trafficking

Russia suggests fighting Afghan drug trafficking on the principle of common and joint responsibility, says the Russian ambassador at the United Nations Vitaly Churkin. He was speaking at the UN General Assembly full-scale session in New York on Thursday. He reiterated Moscow’s proposal for setting up anti-drug and financial security belts around Afghanistan, an effort that would involve the International Security Assistance Force in the Asian country. The Russian ambassador to the UN pointed out that trading in the opiates, of which an absolute majority is produced in Afghanistan, poses a major threat to the countries that the traffic route lies across or the destination countries, but also to international security in general. According to the United Nations, Russia consumes 20% of the Afghanistan-produced heroin.