With the USSR's collapse went barriers that separated Russia from narcotics penetration. Currently international organised crime groups are engaged in narcotic aggression against the Russian Federation," said Cherkesov, addressing on Tuesday an enlarged board meeting of the service, which was also attended by President Vladimir Putin.
According to Cherkesov, half of the drugs in Russia come from abroad, and their proportion keeps on growing.
In this context he stressed the need to broaden cooperation between secret services of various states, including CIS member-countries, to combat the drug threat. In particular, he proposed setting up a research and educational centre within the CIS to train special personnel and plan measures to counter illicit drug trafficking.
As an example of the last successful operations of the service, Cherkesov named the haul of two big shipments of heroin in Moscow and St Petersburg.
"All in all, we seized more than 220 kilos of heroin with a street value of over 230 million roubles ($1 is equivalent to roughly 29 roubles). These are hundreds of thousands of narcotic doses that did not reach their consumers," he said.
According to Cherkesov, 2004 should mark a dividing line in operative search work to deal with the drug business. Without advanced information on drug-related crimes it is impossible to achieve substantive results in the fight against it, the service head said.
"Unfortunately, there are now no well-developed legal mechanisms for seizing financial resources from drug business," he complained. In this context Cherkesov urged using the international experience of countering the laundering of illegal proceeds obtained in the course of narcotic trading.
"Proceeds from the drug business are often used to bribe staff of law enforcement bodies and bureaucrats. So a special role in everyday work of the service is played by the internal security division." he remarked.
The meeting was also attended by Russia's Prosecutor-General Vladimir Ustinov, Security Council Secretary Igor Ivanov, Audit Chamber chairman Sergei Stepashin, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and Federal Security Service director Nikolai Patrushev.
