SIMFEROPOL/MOSCOW. April 2 (Interfax) - NATO's decision to phase out cooperation with Russia in training anti-drug officers for Afghanistan reveals the alliance's unwillingness to really combat drug production in this country, Viktor Ivanov, the chief of the Russian Federal Drug Control Service, told Interfax on Wednesday.
"This is not surprising. What could you have expected from NATO?" Ivanov said.
Media reported earlier on Wednesday that NATO had decided to suspend cooperation with Russia in training anti-drug officers for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
"NATO has long been pursuing a policy aimed at the presence of its military component in Afghanistan. Now they are pulling out of this country, leaving massive drug production there," Ivanov said.
Ivanov said he had proposed a plan at the NATO headquarters in 2010 to counter drug production in Afghanistan, but the alliance did not support it. "I was told by an official spokesperson that the destruction of drug production in Afghanistan is the Afghan government's job," he said.
The U.S. announced last week that it suspended cooperation with Russia on combating the trafficking of Afghan drugs because of Crimea.
"Who will this benefit? This will benefit Afghan drug cartels," Ivanov told Interfax on March 27.
The Federal Drug Control Service had told Interfax earlier that Russia is number one consumer of Afghan heroin, that 1.5 million out of the 8 million officially registered drug addicts in Russia are addicted to heroin, and that about 70,000 young people die of drugs in Russia annually.
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen made a number of statements concerning disagreements between Russia and NATO on Crimea on Tuesday. In particular, he announced NATO's decision to suspend all military cooperation with Russia and to upgrade its member-states' defense capability in light of Russia's steps toward Crimea's reintegration.