Russia's drug control chief, Viktor Ivanov, will announce new proposals on Wednesday for eliminating the narcotics threat from Afghanistan at the Russia-NATO Council meeting in Brussels, a law enforcement source said.
"In particular, Russia's proposals will include plans of eliminating opium plantations in Afghanistan, exchange of operative data with NATO members, including on location of drug laboratories and deliveries of precursors," the source told RIA Novosti.
Ivanov will also meet with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and the heads of antinarcotics services from Italy and Britain.
He will hold a press conference after the meeting.
Russia recently announced plans to boost its drug control mission in Afghanistan, saying that Afghan drug production "has long outgrown the scope of one country and has given rise to global drug trafficking."
Afghan drug production increased dramatically after the U.S.-led invasion that toppled the Taliban in 2001, and Russia has been one of the most affected countries, with heroin consumption rising steeply. An estimated 90% of heroin consumed in Russia is trafficked from Afghanistan via Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
According to official statistics, there are 30,000-40,000 drug-related deaths in Russia every year. Worldwide, more than 100,000 people died from Afghan heroin in 2009 according to UN estimates.
MOSCOW, March 24 (RIA Novosti
