Tackling the Illicit Drug Trade: Perspectives From Russia

... seized by Russian authorities have multiplied by twenty over the 2008-2018 period. Given the growing availability and affordability of drugs on the Russian market, the security dimension of the Central Asian drug trade naturally dominates the drug discourse and, to some extent, justifies Russia's militarised approach. With a 7 644 km-long shared border with Kazakhstan and hundreds of tonnes of drugs flowing in each year, drug trafficking has severe implications beyond the social costs of addiction and directly threatens Russia's security. This is all the more worrying considering that Islamic terrorist groups like the Taliban use the drug trade to finance their operations....