MOSCOW. Sept 4 (Interfax-AVN) - Russian President Vladimir Putin stated he is extremely unsatisfied with the progress being made in anti-drug efforts and will insist on new proposals from ministries and agencies on ways to deal with this problem.
"It is clear that the government's efforts to counter the drug issue cannot be called effective," Putin said at a meeting with heads of ministries and agencies in Moscow on Wednesday.
"Admittedly, there are objective reasons, including the fact that southern borders are virtually inexistant. But this does not mean that "we should use this as an excuse and do nothing to fight against this evil," the president said.
"The scope of the tragedy is so large and we cannot turn a blind eye to what is happening in this area," Putin said.
The president believes that ordinary measures are not enough. "New proposals are needed to would help dramatically turn the situation in the anti-drugs campaign around," he said.
"Everything that is going on in this area can be compared with a disaster. It is not much better than what we are facing in some of the country's regions after floods and similar events," the president said.