European police do not have any statistics that Russia is used as a transit country for drug trafficking, Russia’s anti-narcotics chief, Viktor Ivanov, said on Wednesday.
“There are no statistics [on trafficking narcotics through Russia into Europe] from my colleagues, from police in western European countries,” Ivanov said during a live interview on Ekho Moskvy radio.
Ivanov in the spring of last year said that Russia is not a transit country for narcotics into Europe; however, European countries traffic a large amount of synthetic drugs into Russia.
He said that 30 tons of drugs, mostly from Afghanistan in the form of heroin, are trafficked into Russia annually.
“We confiscate about 10% of that amount and almost all of the remainder is consumed [in Russia],” he added.
Last month, Ivanov said he and U.S. drug control chief Gil Kerlikowske signed the 2010 report in order to submit it to the presidents of Russia and United States, Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama.
Afghan drug production increased dramatically after the U.S.-led invasion toppled the Taliban in 2001, and Russia has been one of the most affected countries, with heroin consumption rising steeply.
Around 30,000 Russians die from heroin abuse every year, 90% of it coming from Afghanistan smuggled through other Central Asian countries, including Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.
MOSCOW, April 20 (RIA Novosti)