Drug-Trafficking through Russia's Post-Soviet Borders: Problems, Misperceptions, and Countermeasures
Drug-Trafficking through Russia's Post-Soviet Borders: Problems, Misperceptions, and Countermeasures

Summary/Abstract: The focus of this paper is evaluation of Russian policy in response to issues that arise when illicit drugs cross boundaries and border areas adjoining post-Soviet states. To assess its adequacy at the macro level, at least two key features of the drug market should be considered. The first is its geographical map, including both the routes of transboundary trafficking and regularities of consumption in border provinces. The second is organization of smuggling processes with such features as the level of centralization, typical structure of criminal groups, and their methods of conspiration. Factors of national and ethnic composition of those groups are very important in this respect because they strongly influence officials’ and public perceptions as to who should be considered as the principal enemy and what should be done to solve the problem.

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