More than half of the heroin entering Russia smuggles through its border with Kazakhstan

Senior Russian officials have again expressed concern at the amount of illegal drugs being smuggled into the country, predominantly, they say, from Central Asia. The Russian Interior Minister, Vladimir Rushailo, told a meeting in Novorsibirsk with Kazakh officials that more than half of the heroin entering Russia was smuggled through its border with Kazakhstan. He said it was virtually impossible to patrol the border which is seven thousand kilometres long. At a separate meeting in Moscow, the head of the Russian Security Council, Sergei Ivanov, said drug addiction and drug related crime in Russia was increasing so rapidly that the Kremlin regarded it as a threat to national security, BBC reports. He singled out Tajikistan as the main conduit for drugs entering Russia.