Viktor Cherkesov, as presidential representative for the Northwestern Federal District in 2000
Photo: Sergey Semyenov
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State Antinarcotics Committee Created
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an order on Saturday founding the State Antinarcotics Committee. The committee is, in essence, one more vertical of power, which law enforcement hopes will increase the effectiveness of the battle against illegal drugs. Observers, however, say the move was largely political.
The new committee will be made up of seven ministers (the heads of the Interior Ministry, Foreign Ministry, Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, among others), 14 head of federal agencies (ranging from the FSB to the Federal Statistics Service and the Federal Fitness, Sports and Tourism Agency), deputy speakers from the State Duma and Federation Council, the deputy secretary of the Security Council and the head of the presidential supervisory department. The committee will be chaired by director of the Federal Narcotics Control Service Viktor Cherkesov.
The committee will be represented in the regions by antinarcotics commissions that, under the presidential order, will be founded in every subject of the federation. The commissions will be headed by the regional governors, who will have the authority to make recommendations to municipal heads to establish antinarcotics commissions on that level.
The State Antinarcotics Committee is structurally and functionally reminiscent of the State Antiterrorism Committee, founded by presidential order in February 2006 and headed by FSB chief Nikolay Patrushev. The State Antiterrorism Committee is made up of practically the same ministers as belong to the State Antinarcotics Committee and it also has antiterrorism commissions in all the subjects of the federation. The decisions of the federal government antinarcotics commission, which are being dissolved now, were purely recommendatory. Now, with governors heading the commissions, their decisions can be made law.
Public Chamber member and president of the No to Alcoholism and Narcotics foundation Oleg Zykov was unimpressed with the new committee, saying it had “nothing in common with the fight against the illegal drug trade or the key problems of reducing demand for narcotics.” He would prefer to see a “professional social service” created. Observers see a clear political underpinning in the new committee, noting the recent conflict between Cherkesov's agency and the FSB. Experts say that the new committee will create a “balance of ambitions” among the heads of law enforcement agencies. Cherkesov, who was passed over for the leadership of the FSB and Security Council, recently made known a “feud” among the heads of enforcement agencies in the pages of Kommersant.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Oct. 22, 2007
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