Expert: Main threats to Russia's security come from Central Asia

The main threats to Russia's security now come from the Central Asia region, first of all Afghanistan, a Russian military expert said Sunday.

The Defense Ministry is concerned over the drug trafficking problem, over heroin coming in big amounts from Afghanistan somehow bypassing international forces, the expert said.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said earlier Afghan drug cartels would have produced over 500 metric tons of heroin in 2005, and its total turnover would be worth more than $30 billion, part of which would be used to finance terrorism.

Ivanov proposed that NATO cooperate with antiterrorist Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) members which also include Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. CSTO experts are to arrive in Brussels before the year's end, RIA Novosti reports.