Putin proposes creating anti-drug group as part of SCO

MOSCOW, July 10. /TASS/. Russia calls for establishing as part of a regional anti-terrorist body of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) a working group on countering terrorism financing through drug trade, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday. "We believe that there is a need to create as part of a regional anti-terrorist structure [of SCO] a working group on struggling against financing of terrorism through drug trade," the Russian leader said at the SCO summit in Russia’s Ufa in an extended format. Putin also noted the increase in opiates production in Afghanistan. The president stressed that significant cash flows from drug trade are used to support terrorists and extremists. Last year, opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan grew by 7 percent and the amount of opiates production reached 6,400 tonnes compared with 5,500 tonnes in 2013, according to Russian data. Read more