Russia Blames U.S. Forces in Afghanistan for Heroin Rise

The head of Russia’s anti-narcotics federal agency says that British troops in Helmand Province are not doing enough to stem production of the world’s deadliest drug.

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“Sixty percent of all opiates in the world are produced in the area that the British forces are responsible for,” said Viktor Ivanov.

“There were 25 hectares of opium in 2004. Now there are 90,000. This shows you how effective they are.”

Vast swathes of borderland between Russia and Kazakhstan are prime territory for smuggling heroin from Afghanistan; road and rail are the primary methods of transit.

The drug is smuggled through Central Asia by train. Bundles are ejected for pick-up en route. Some are seized – many are not.

Twenty kilos of heroin were seized earlier this year from conductors who were smuggling it on board the train from Tajikistan to Moscow.

But such hauls are just the tip of the iceberg – only 4% or 5% of heroin coming into Russia is actually captured – a small fraction of the estimated 60 tonnes that arrive from Afghanistan each year.

St Petersburg is one of the worst affected cities in Russia.

Away from the architectural grandeur lies its darker side. Heroin is rife and support is scarce. A small bus is the only needle exchange in the entire city. Methadone substitution is banned. Both mean a big problem with HIV.

Alexsei and Zhanna are both HIV positive heroin addicts

We met Alexsei and Zhanna in their cramped top floor flat. Both are HIV positive heroin addicts. Because of her usage, one half of Zhanna’s body is paralysed. She has not left the flat for three years.

She said: “There is not a single vein left anywhere. Not in my legs, not in my feet, my thighs, stomach or my chest.

“I used to even shoot up in my forehead and my eyes. Wherever you see a bit of blue vein – you stick a needle in there.”

Younger generations are also falling victim to the drug’s ubiquity.

Outside a metro station, we spotted a boy who looks no older than eight. He and his friends are incredibly open about their drug use. They say they steal and wash cars to get enough money to inject daily.

Russia has an estimated 2.5m heroin addicts – most are under the age of 30. For a country in the midst of a deepening demographic crisis, the prospect of a lost generation is a terrifying one.

Missile Shield Relocated to Israel

Deputy US army chief, Gen. James Cartwright and defense secretary Robert Gates amplified President Barack Obama’s statement on the US missile shield in East Europe in Washington Thursday, Sept. 17, by announcing that a new and better anti-missile missile system would be deployed in Israel and the Caucasus.

Some Sources disclosed exclusively that the system would be installed at a Russian military base in Azerbaijan. Referring to the Israeli component, he said: “It is already working perfectly.”

Military sources disclose he was referring to the advanced American FBX-T radar system deployed last year in Israel’s Negev base at Nevatim, which is capable of tracking a missile launched from the Persian Gulf, the Middle East and beyond. The system, product of Raytheon, is mobile and capable of detecting incoming bodies the size of a baseball from a distance of 4,700 km, determining its speed and angle of flight and transmitting the data to an interceptor at any point on earth.

Reported earlier Thursday:

The Obama administration’s decision to shelve the plan to install US missile interceptors and radar systems in Poland and the Czech Republic was released Thursday, Sept. 17. The shield was promoted by the Bush administration in the face of strong Russian opposition for the purpose of shielding Europe from long-range Iranian ballistic missile attack.

A report that Barack Obama’s decision prompted Russian president Dmitry Medvedev’s surprise comment Monday, Sept. 14, that his government no longer rules out further sanctions against Iran – although the Kremlin has always denied its cooperation with the US on the Iranian nuclear issue was contingent on the removal of the US missile shield plan.

A shared US-Russian wish to avert an Israeli military strike against Iran produced Obama’s decision to ditch the missile shield in East Europe.

Our Washington sources report that the decision follows a 60-day assessment of the issue announced by Obama. “The US will base its decision on a determination that Iran’s long-range missile program has not progressed as rapidly as previously estimated, reducing the threat to the continental US and major European capitals,” said unnamed current and former US officials.

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On Aug. 29, DEBKAfile reported exclusively from East European sources that Washington was considering the transfer of its missile plan from Poland and the Czech Republic, possibly to Israel and Turkey.

http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=6242

This decision is an important foreign policy step for Obama; it is a prize for Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin, who fought the US shield plan on Russia’s doorstep tooth and nail, and a major strategic reversal for Iran. Moscow’s cooperation removes a key obstacle on the road to harsh sanctions against Iran. Acting in concert with Moscow, Washington can dispense with Beijing’s endorsement.

Nonetheless, Moscow sources stress, it is not entirely clear how far the Kremlin is willing to go in partnering the US drive against Iran. Russian leaders will take good care not to appear to the Muslim and Arab world as Iran’s enemy or a trading and diplomatic partner who reneges on its commitments.

Russian Media Say’s Israel Planning Iranian Attack

Russian report: Netanyahu may be planning attack
The Israeli Prime Minister’s rushed visit to Moscow under a cloud of secrecy occupies the Russian media. Kommersant paper quotes ‘informed Israeli’ source as saying ‘It can’t be ruled out that Israel may be ready to move on to decisive actions with regards to Iran, and Netanyahu decided to inform the Kremlin of this.
Olga Gouresky
Published: 09.10.09, 14:16 / Israel News
Russian media on Thursday continued to cover Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s mysterious visit to Moscow, that was leaked to the media from his office.

Kommersant newspaper quoted “experts” as saying they believe a visit of this kind could have stemmed from urgent circumstances, “for example, in the event that Israel plans to attack Iran”.
Cloud of Mystery
Report: PM held secret talks in Russia / Ynet
Yedioth Ahronoth says Netanyahu’s Monday ‘disappearance’ was actually Moscow visit meant to discuss arms deals between Russian, Iran. PMO asserts Netanyahu was ‘handling classified matters,’ never left the country

At first, Moscow denied a visit ever took place, but after Netanyahu’s office was forced to admit to the PM’s Military Secretary Meir Kalifi’s lie, a senior Kremlin source also confirmed to Kommersant that the Israeli prime minister did indeed visit the city.

Russian media also directed questions on the visit to the Israeli embassy in Moscow, but embassy sources said that if there was such a visit, “We know nothing about it.”

The paper then quoted what it called an “informed” Israeli source, who wished to remain anonymous, as saying, “Such a visit could be related to new information and could threaten the Iranian nuclear program. It should not be ruled out that Israel may be ready to move on to decisive actions with regards to Iran, and Netanyahu has decided to inform the Kremlin of this.”

Russian Foreign Minister Spokesman Andrei Nesterenko published an announcement saying, “We have no knowledge of a Netanyahu’s ’secret’ visit to Moscow. We saw reports in various media. They are inconsistent. Other than that, I cannot tell you anything. I have no detailed information in the matter, or any information in the matter. We have seen the reports.”

On Wednesday, Ynet revealed that Netanyahu left Israel on a private jet belonging Israeli millionaire Yossi Maiman. Earlier Wednesday, Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported that his destination was Russia.
The prime minister’s aides who published the false announcements of his whereabouts were at a loss for words.
Wednesday night the Prime Minister’s Office published yet another announcement in an attempt to rectify the damage, said, “The prime minister was busy with secret, classified activity. The military secretary took his own initiative to defend this activity.”

Israeli mossad Accused of Pirating Freighter Arctic Sea

Moscow- A Russian newspaper claimed Friday that suspected pirates who boarded the freighter Arctic Sea were actually agents of the Israeli secret service trying to stop it smuggling arms to Iran. According to Russian media, the Arctic Sea may have been carrying illegal X-55 cruise missiles destined for Iran hidden among its cargo of lumber.

Israeli Mossad

Men acting on the behalf of the Israeli Mossad secret service commandeered the ship to divert the weapons away from Iran, Israel’s regional enemy, the daily Novaya Gazeta said.

Citing Moscow publicist Yulia Latynina, the daily pointed to the surprise visit of Israeli President Shimon Peres on August 18, a day after the Arctic Sea, which had been missing for three weeks, had been tracked down and liberated by Russian forces off West Africa.

During his visit, Peres, who according to Latynina had no other business in Russia, requested Moscow refrain from supplying weapons or missile defence systems to Iran.

Russian authorities denied that the Arctic Sea had been smuggling weapons.

Russian ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Dmitri Rogozin, said earlier Friday that such allegations were a “fantasy” and “ridiculous.”

The deployment at great expense of Russian Black Sea fleet to liberate the hijacked ship was undertaken for the sake of the 15 Russian seamen on board and not supposed weapons, Rogozin said.

Russian authorities in Moscow on late Friday formally charged the eight alleged hijackers with kidnapping and piracy, the Interfax news agency reported.

The suspects include a Lithuanian, a Russian, three stateless persons, and a Spaniard, the report said, adding that the citizenship of the two remaining suspects had yet to be clarified.

According to official reports, the Arctic Sea was liberated from pirates on Monday off the coast of West Africa. According to the Russian sources, pirates took the freighter on July 24 off the coast of Sweden.

Victor Matveev, director of Solchart Management, the shipping company that owns the Arctic Sea freighter stated Friday that his company “still has not received any official information” about the ship or its crew.

Russian Submarines Patrol U.S. East Coast

A pair of nuclear-powered Russian attack submarines has been patrolling off the eastern seaboard of the United States in recent days, a rare mission that has raised concerns inside the Pentagon and intelligence agencies about a more assertive stance by the Russian military.

The episode has echoes of the cold war era, when the United States and the Soviet Union regularly parked submarines off each other’s coasts to steal military secrets, track the movements of their underwater fleets — and be poised for war.

But the collapse of the Soviet Union all but eliminated the ability of the Russian Navy to operate far from home ports, making the current submarine patrols thousands of miles from Russia more surprising for military officials and defense policy experts.

“I don’t think they’ve put two first-line nuclear subs off the U.S. coast in about 15 years,” said Norman Polmar, a naval historian and submarine warfare expert.

The submarines are of the Akula class, a counterpart to the Los Angeles class attack subs of the United States Navy, and not one of the larger submarines that can launch intercontinental nuclear missiles.

According to Defense Department officials, one of the Russian submarines remained in international waters on Tuesday about 200 miles off the coast of the United States. The location of the second remained unclear. One senior official said the second submarine traveled south in recent days toward Cuba, while another senior official with access to reports on the surveillance mission said it had sailed away in a northerly direction.

The Pentagon and intelligence officials spoke anonymously to describe the effort to track the Russian submarines, which has not been publicly announced.

President Obama spoke by telephone with President Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia on Tuesday, but it was not clear whether the subject of the submarines came up, although another source of friction between the two countries did. Mr. Medvedev called Mr. Obama to wish him a happy birthday and the White House said the president used the opportunity to urge Russia to work through diplomatic channels to resolve rising tensions with Georgia.

The submarine patrols come as Moscow tries to shake off the embarrassment of the latest failed test of the Bulava missile, a long-range weapon that was test fired from a submarine in the Arctic on July 15. The failed missile test was the sixth since 2005, and some experts see Russia’s assertiveness elsewhere as a gambit by the military to prove its continued relevance.

“It’s the military trying to demonstrate that they are still a player in Russian political and economic matters,” Mr. Polmar said.

One of the submarines is the newer Akula II, officials said, which is quieter than the older variant and the most advanced in the Russian fleet. The Akula is capable of carrying torpedoes for attacking other submarines and surface vessels as well as missiles for striking targets on land and at sea.

Defense Department officials declined to speculate on which weapons might be aboard the two submarines.

While the submarines have not taken any provocative action beyond their presence outside territorial waters of the United States, officials expressed wariness over the Kremlin’s motivation for ordering such an unusual mission.

“Anytime the Russian Navy does something so out of the ordinary it is cause for worry,” said a senior Defense Department official who has been monitoring reports on the submarines’ activities.

The official said the Navy was able to track the submarines as they made their way through international waters off the American coastline. This can be done from aircraft, ships, underwater sensors or other submarines.

“We’ve known where they were, and we’re not concerned about our ability to track the subs,” the official added. “We’re concerned just because they are there.”

Once among the world’s most powerful forces, the Russian Navy now has very few ships regularly deployed on the open seas. Moscow has contributed warships to the international armada searching for Somali pirates. In addition, a flotilla of Russian warships participated in exercises with Venezuela last year.