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Abstract
The collapse of the Soviet Union precipitated the massive expansion of drug use and trade in Russia. The country now has one of the largest populations of injecting drug users in the world and has become the largest single-country market for Afghan heroin. In 2003 the Federal Service for the Control of the Drugs Trade was created to coordinate a comprehensive counternarcotics strategy appropriate to the scale of this threat. The service continues to face a number of challenges in its early stages of development. However, it has made considerable advances in improving responses to large-scale organised crime and in building international cooperation.
Notes
1. For an overview of the reforms see CitationBacon and Renz, ‘Restructuring Security in Russia’.
2. The last comprehensive English-language study on Russian counterdrug policies was published in 2002 and before the creation of the FSKN. See Paoli, ‘The Price of Freedom’.
3. CitationBacon and Renz, Securitising Russia, 22–48.
4. See, for example, CitationGlasser, ‘Russian Drug Unit Criticized’.
5. Material for this article was drawn from a variety of open sources. Information was collected from Russian newspapers and the FSKN's website, http://www.fskn.gov.ru. Unless indicated otherwise, reports from news services and transcripts of Russian television and radio programmes were accessed via Nexis and BBC Monitoring. Russian legal documentation was downloaded from the presidential website documentary database, http://graph.document.kremlin.ru. Unless otherwise specified, all Internet sources were last accessed on 9 July 2010. Documentary sources were supplemented by an in-depth interview with the chief of the FSKN's Centre for Public Relations, Nikolai Kartashov, conducted by the author in Moscow on 31 May 2006. English translations of Russian-language sources are the author's own. Research for this article was conducted with support from the British Academy. I would like to thank Emilia Kosterina for her support in Moscow. I am also grateful to Rod Thornton and Brian Goss for their comments and to the anonymous reviewers for the very thorough and helpful suggestions.
6. CitationWright, ‘Afghanistan's Opiate Economy’.
7. CitationMares, ‘US Drug Policy’, 64–65.
8. CitationMares, ‘US drug policy’, 64–65
9. CitationMares, ‘US drug policy’, 64–65; Vauters and Smith, ‘A Question of Escalation’.
10. Ibid.; Vauters and Smith, ‘A question of escalation’, 172.
11. CitationKan, ‘Webs of Smoke’, 155.
12. CitationVauters and Smith, ‘A Question of Escalation’, 171. See also CitationCornell, ‘Narcotics, Radicalism and Armed Conflict’.
13. Kan, ‘Webs of Smoke’, 155.
14. Wright, ‘Afghanistan's Opiate Economy’.
15. CitationMikhos, ‘Afghanistan's Drug Challenge’.
16. CitationSullivan, ‘Counter-Supply’, 182–3.
17. CitationSullivan, ‘Counter-supply’, 182–3, 179–180.
18. CitationSullivan, ‘Counter-supply’, 182–3
19. CitationBunker and Begert, ‘Counter-Demand’, 203.
20. CitationBunker and Begert, ‘Counter-demand’, 203, 210.
21. Sullivan, ‘Counter-Supply’, 191.
22. CitationSchaffer Conroy, ‘Abuse of Drugs other than Alcohol’, 457.
23. The fast expansion of drug use in Russia is evident in the rapidly growing number of registered drug users in the country in the early post-Soviet era. In 1991, 3.9 cases per 100,000 inhabitants were recorded. This number grew to 42 by 1999. The rapidity of the growing drug trade is best demonstrated by statistics about heroin seizures. Only 5 grams was seized in Russia in 1992 growing to almost 1000 kg by 2000. CitationPaoli, ‘The Price of Freedom’, 168–172.
24. CitationKrajewski, ‘Drugs, Markets and Criminal Justice in Poland’, 276.
25. CitationMedvedev, ‘Address to the International Forum’.
26. CitationUnited Nations, ‘World Drug Report 2009’.
27. CitationUnited Nations, ‘Illicit Drug Trends in the Russian Federation’, 6.
28. CitationStepanova, ‘Illicit Drug Trafficking’.
29. CitationITAR-TASS, ‘Russia's New Drug Tsar’.
30. Paoli, ‘The Price of Freedom’, 168–177.
31. Federal law No. Citation3-FZ.
32. CitationIamshanov and Sharov, ‘Viktor Cherkesov’.
33. A full list of the FSKN's tasks can be found in paragraph three of Presidential decree No. 976.
34. Author's interview with the chief of the FSKN's Centre for Public Relations, Nikolai Kartashov, conducted in Moscow on 3 May 2006. For further details on FSKN spetsnaz groups, see interview with the head of the FSKN directorate of special-assignment units, Andrei Sidel'nik (in Russian) published in the journal Bratishka in March 2009, accessible on the FSKN website, http://www.fskn.gov.ru/fskn/press-slujba/publik/content.htm?id = 10294961@cmsArticle
35. The Russian security apparatus refers to all federal ministries and federal services that have under their command uniformed personnel and their own militarised or armed formations. This includes the regular armed forces under the Ministry of Defence, but also of a range of security and law-enforcement services, such as the FSKN. The terms ‘power ministries’ and ‘force structures’ are also often used to describe the Russian security apparatus. For a detailed account on the Russian security apparatus, including an outline of its individual components, see CitationRenz, ‘Russia's Force Structures’.
36. CitationBabaeva, ‘V. Cherkesov’.
37. CitationPutin, ‘Opening Address’.
38. CitationInterview with Viktor Cherkesov, Parlamentskaya Gazeta.
39. CitationGregory and Brooke, ‘Policing Economic Transition’.
40. Author's interview with the chief of the FSKN's Centre for Public Relations, Nikolai Kartashov, conducted in Moscow on 31 May 2006.
41. See, for example, CitationTrofimov, ‘Nasha zadacha’.
42. DEA mission statement and staffing figures are available on its website, http://www.dea.gov
43. Babaeva, ‘V. Cherkesov’.
44. CitationUnited Nations, ‘Executive Secretary Antonio Costa's Visit to Moscow’.
45. Vladimir Putin, ‘Opening Address’.
46. CitationHuman Rights Watch, ‘Rehabilitation Required’, 13–15.
47. Detailed information on the federal programme is available on the FSKN's website, http://fskn.gov.ru/fskn/fcp/norm_akt.htm (in Russian).
48. CitationDepartment of State, ‘International Narcotics Control Strategy Report 2010’, Volume I, 530.
49. CitationITAR-TASS, ‘Russian Anti-drugs Chief’. For more information on the GAK's remit and membership, see the FSKN's website, http://fskn.gov.ru/fskn/gak.htm (in Russian).
50. Heroin seizures in Russia have grown from 842 kg in 2002 to 2938 kg in 2009 (source: United Nations, ‘Illicit Drug Trends in the Russian Federation’, 9; United Nations, ‘World Drug Report 2009’, 50). According to former director of the FSKN, Cherkesov, the rate of increase in the number of registered drug users dropped from 24% per year in 2003 to 0.5% in 2008. The number of drug users between 2004 and 2008 dropped by 800,000 (source: CitationITAR-TASS, ‘Russian Anti-drug Agency Chief on Reduction in Number of Addicts’).
51. United Nations, ‘Illicit Drug Trends in the Russian Federation’.
52. Babaeva, ‘V. Cherkesov’.
53. CitationVendil Pallin and Westerlund, ‘Russia's War in Georgia’.
54. CitationRushev, ‘Zasada na svoikh’.
55. Renz, ‘Russia's Force Structures’, 561.
56. CitationKaliyev, ‘Can “Power Ministries” be Reformed?’; CitationKramer, ‘Oversight of Russia's Intelligence and Security Agencies’.
57. CitationMoran, From Garrison State to Nation State.
58. CitationCherkesov, ‘Nel'zia dopustit’.
59. CitationAllenova, ‘Narkotiki plavno skolz'iat k nam’.
60. CitationTransparency International, ‘Corruption Perceptions Index 2009 Results’.
61. CitationKlimova, ‘Corruption in Russia today’.
62. Citation‘Head of Russian Antidrug Service Admits Corruption among Employees’, Radio Mayak, 27 February 2007.
63. CitationITAR-TASS, ‘Russian Drugs Tsar on New Committee's Recruitment Policy’.
64. CitationFSKN, ‘Antikorruptsionnaia deiatel'nost’, http://www.fskn.gov.ru/fskn/korrupcia.htm
65. CitationInterfax, ‘Russian Drug Control Services says Internal Corruption Falling’.
66. CitationNagle, ‘Corruption of Politicians, Law Enforcement’, 98–109.
67. For a chart of the FSKN's structure, see http://www.fskn.gov.ru/fskn/about/chart.htm (in Russian).
68. For more information about the programme, see the FSKN website, http://www.fskn.gov.ru/fskn/profilaktika/metodika.htm?id = 10296757@cmsArticle (in Russian).
69. CitationOksana Yablokova, ‘Drug Enforcers Sharply Criticised’.
70. CitationLiakhovich, ‘Drug Busters’.
71. CitationRussia & CIS General Newswire, ‘Human Rights Activist Held’.
72. Allenova, ‘Narkotiki plavno skolz'iat k nam’.
73. CitationSamoilova, ‘President vstupil v borbu s narkomaniei’.
74. United Nations, ‘Illicit Drug Trends in the Russian Federation’; Human Rights Watch, ‘Rehabilitation Required’.
75. CitationGodson and Williams, ‘Strengthening Cooperation against Transsovereign Crime’.
76. Sullivan, ‘Counter-Supply’, 182–3.
77. Putin, ‘Opening Address’.
78. Presidential Decree No. Citation976.
79. Presidential Decree No Citation263.
80. CitationInterfax, ‘Russian Anti-Drugs Agency Opens Office in Iran’.
81. For a list for all international agreements/memoranda, see the FSKN website, http://fskn.gov.ru/fskn/international.htm (in Russian).
82. United Nations, ‘Illicit Drug Trends in the Russian Federation’, 6.
83. CitationInterfax, ‘Russia-Led Military Alliance’.
84. CitationTret'iakov, ‘Geroinovyi sprut’.
85. The CSTO was established in 2002. Its members include Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. The organisation tends to be viewed as an alliance of ‘pro-Russian’ former Soviet states.
86. CitationInterfax, ‘Antidrug Effort in CIS’.
88. Interfax, ‘Antidrug Effort in CIS’; CitationRIA Novosti, ‘Russian Anti-Drugs Chief’.
89. CitationFSKN, ‘Ob itogakh vtorogo etapa’.
90. Department of State. ‘International Narcotics Control Strategy Reports’ for 2005, 2006, and 2007. All accessible on the DoS website, http://www.state.gov/p/inl/rls/nrcrpt/
91. CitationUnited Nations, ‘Visit of Russian and Belarusian Delegation’.
92. Author's interview with the chief of the FSKN's Centre for Public Relations, Nikolai Kartashov, conducted in Moscow on 31 May 2006.
93. CitationNATO, ‘Factsheet’; CitationUnited Nations, ‘Countering Drug Trafficking from Afghanistan’, http://www.unodc.org/centralasia/en/drug-trafficking-and-border-control.html
94. Russia & CIS Military Weekly, ‘Russia Proposes Action Plan’.
95. CitationUnited Nations, ‘World Drug Report 2010’.
96. Allenova, ‘Narkotiki plavno skolz'iat k nam’.
97. CitationInterview with Viktor Cherkesov, Radio Ekho Moskvy.
98. CitationInterfax-AVN, ‘Russia Calls on UN’; CitationRussia & CIS Military Weekly, ‘Russia Proposes Action Plan’.
100. CitationRIA Novosti, ‘War on Drugs Requires a “Reset”’.
102. CitationRadio Ekho Moscow, ‘Russian Envoy Urges NATO to “Acknowledge” CSTO’.
103. CitationVesti TV, ‘Russian Foreign Minister Suggests NATO Should Work with CSTO’.
104. CitationNATO, ‘NATO 2020’.
105. CitationStates News Service, ‘Joint Statement’.
106. CitationVesti TV, BBC News, ‘Afghan President Karzai Criticises US-Russia Drugs Raid’.
107. United Nations, ‘Illicit Drug Trends in the Russian Federation’, 20.
108. CitationGaleotti, ‘The Challenge of ‘Soft Security’, 168.