Moscow is ready to consider different forms of cooperation with NATO, including cooperation under the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), so to tackle the Afghan drug threat, Russian Foreign Minister told Rossia 1 TV channel on Saturday.
Russia "is ready to consider various forms of cooperation, involving delivery of helicopters on commercial basis, search for other ways of supporting the law enforcement structures of the country [Afghanistan]," Sergei Lavrov said.
In time of the same interview, Lavrov said Moscow has received an official invitation to a forthcoming NATO summit in Lisbon.
NATO is not sufficiently cooperating with Russia in tackling the Afghan drug threat, Nilolay Bordyuzha, CSTO Secretary General, said in late March.
"We (CSTO leadership) have repeatedly told NATO: let's tackle this problem together because this is not a regional but a global threat," he complained, saying that NATO has so far been reluctant to do so.
The sooner NATO starts full cooperation with Russia, the sooner they will set up an effective scheme to combat Afghan drug trafficking, Bordyuzha said.
Afghan drug production increased dramatically after the U.S.-led invasion that toppled the Taliban in 2001, and Russia has been one of the most affected countries, with heroin consumption rising steeply. An estimated 90% of heroin consumed in Russia is trafficked from Afghanistan via Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
MOSCOW, September 25 (RIA Novosti)
