Afghan drugs threaten global security - Lavrov
13:20 09/06/2010 MOSCOW, June 9 (RIA Novosti) - Afghan drugs pose a major threat to global peace and security, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday.
"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.
"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.
Russian and NATO chiefs of staff approved earlier this year a military cooperation treaty which includes Russia's support for the U.S.-led military operation in Afghanistan, specifically military transit via Russian airspace.
Afghan drug production increased dramatically after the U.S.-led invasion that toppled the Taliban in 2001. Russia, which has suffered a steep rise in heroin consumption, has been one of the countries most affected by the increase.
According to the Federal Drug Control Service, Afghan opium kills around 100,000 people around the world and around 30,000 Russians each year.
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