The Co-Chairmen of the U.S. - Russia Bilateral Presidential Commission Counternarcotics Working Group (Working Group) have reviewed the progress of the Working Group since its creation in July 2009.  The two governments have engaged in extensive exchanges to effectively reduce the demand for drugs, including a visit by the U.S. delegation to the V P. Serbsky State Scientific Center for Social and Forensic Psychiatry in Moscow and visits by Russian authorities to prevention, treatment, and recovery programs across the United States. During the most recent Working Group meeting on March 24th in Moscow, experts engaged in substantive discussions of youth drug prevention in schools.

The Working Group has moved forward with implementing an action plan for combating financial flows associated with the narcotics trade emanating from Afghanistan.  To that end, DEA hosted a joint workshop in April for Russian representatives across the government centered on investigative techniques used to conduct financial investigations of drug traffickers using sophisticated money laundering techniques. Additionally, DEA representatives discussed U.S. laws and statutes that allow for successful seizure of monies and hard assets obtained from the proceeds of drug trafficking.

The Co-Chairmen have discussed their work to implement President Obama and President Medvedev’s agreement in the June 2010 Joint Statement on Afghanistan, in which they committed to countering the drug threat with an emphasis on the interdiction of narcotics flows. The co-chairs state the following:

The Working Group has achieved a close working relationship between the Federal law enforcement agencies of our countries, which directly helped conduct a series of joint operations and have made a significant impact in the fight against transnational drug crime.

In October 2010, the first Afghan-led operation supported by Russian and American forces took place, resulting in the destruction of four drug laboratories and nearly one metric ton of heroin. This operation laid the foundation for subsequent operations held during December 2010 – February 2011.

In the framework of the joint Russian-American operations “Asian Man” and “Octopus,” we unveiled and disrupted active narcotics trafficking routes from the northern provinces of Afghanistan to Russia.

With the strengthening of our cooperation by means of consolidating enforcement, political, military, diplomatic, and informational mechanisms, we increased the scale and efficiency of our work. The success of these operations could not be achieved without the participation of our partners, first of all Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan.

We confirm our commitment to continue strengthening our cooperation in order to protect the health and safety of all of our citizens.

                           Victor Ivanov           Gil Kerlikowske

 Chairman of the State Antinarcotics              Director of National Drug Control Policy

 Committee, Director of the Federal United States of America

          Drugs Control Service                      

Russian Federation

June 23, 2011