Iran, Russia to cooperate against transnational crime

MOSCOW, Dec. 10 (MNA) – Iranian and Russian ministers examined the three-year joint plan of action against transnational organized crime, which is set to be signed in the future. Iranian Interior Minister and Head of Iran Drug Control Headquarters Abdolreza Rahamani Fazli met with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Alexandrovich Kolokoltsev Tuesday and together examined their joint plan of action against transnational organized crime for 2015-2017. This joint plan comprises a set of actions to combat organized crime, and an exchange of information in countering extremism. Another section of the document is dedicated to cooperation in fighting crimes and exchange of information on international crimes in transport facilities. This document is currently being examined and written by Iranian and Russian officials and experts at the Interior Ministry, and is set to be signed in the future. The Russian minister while underscoring the need to exchange information on natural resources and anti-drug trafficking actions, added, “cooperation between Iran and Russia could be one of the priorities in the field of combating transnational crime, especially since security had been one of the key issues of the negotiations during the summit of the Caspian littoral states’ leaders at Astrakhan.” Gen. Kolokoltsev stressed that cooperation with Iran in fighting drug trafficking is of utmost importance to Russia and expressed eagerness for this cooperation to be further developed. “Russia holds anti-drug trafficking operations each year called Star of the Caspian Sea during which some 60 narcotics-trafficking related cases are discovered,” said Gen. Kolokoltsev, maintaining that for this purpose, Russia was eager to exchange information with Iran on drug trafficking and the traffickers. “The volume of cooperation documents between Iran and Russia has increased by 50 percent in the last year,” he said, while requesting that the two countries further their cooperation in Interpol. Iranian minister, for his part, referred to the Western sanctions against Iran for some 36 years and said, “in spite of this, we have been able to successfully overcome all difficulties by relying on our domestic forces and cooperating with benevolent countries.” The Iranian interior minister heading a high-ranking delegation arrived in Moscow on Monday for a two-day visit with Russian senior officials. In the meeting with the Director of Federal Drug Control Service of the Russian Federation Victor Ivanov on Monday, the two sides signed a document as their joint plan of action to fight the production and trafficking of illicit drugs.