"SAFETY RING" CREATED ON THE BORDER WITH AFGHANISTAN








MOSCOW, MARCH 1, 2001. /FROM RIA NOVOSTI CORRESPONDENT/. Russia is now elaborating measures to prevent the delivery of drugs to the country as transit goods from Afghanistan, said head of the centre for preventing the illegal drug trafficking under the interior ministry Oleg Kharichkin.


	The interior ministry, the federal security service and the state customs committee are working out measures to create a so-called safety ring on the border with Afghanistan for preventing drug-smuggling. Kharichkin pointed out that millions of roubles will be required to block as much as possible the channels of drug deliveries from Afghanistan.


	Drug combating centres in Russia and CIS member countries are cooperating within the framework of this project. The most efficient cooperation is being observed between Russian secret services and their Kazakh counterparts. A joint group has been created whose work brings specific results.


	Kharichkin reported that at the present time all drugs that exist in the world are being delivered to Russia -- heroin from Latin America, and synthetic drugs from Europe, in particular from Estonia of late.