FINAL REPORT

FINAL REPORT

by Sergey V. Golunov

to OSI Policy Fellowship Program, Budapest

Title of the project: “Drug-Trafficking as a Challenge for Russian Border and Security Policies”

Reporting period: April 1, 2005 – April 31, 2006

Account on activities

1. The main findings of my research:

• The decisive factors of narcotics consumption (especially of hard drugs) in Russian provinces and regions of some neighbor states, are not the borderland or transit location of the territory but peculiarities of area's social-economic development such as, on the one hand, high average purchasing capacity of population, and, on the other hand, low social mobility of some groups which members can experience the feeling of having no prospect. Taking into account statistic information about narcotics consumption and drug-related crimes it seems that 50% or even most drug-related activities are concentrated in roughly 20 major Russian cities.

• There is some kind of «transboundary narco-regions» at Russia's borders with Kazakhstan and Ukraine consisting of contiguous administrative-territory units of the mentioned countries. In this case high capacity of regional narco-markets and very often similar social conditions create the necessary prerequisites for functioning of well-organized transboundary narco-business structures.

• These factors are not always taken into account when national anti-narcotic policy is made or planned. The main stress is laid on the fortifying borders making «security belts» along the most «problem» of them, especially along Russian-Kazakhstan border. However, even at this boundary only very small share of Russian hard drugs market's demand is been seized while borderland provinces have no decisive importance in all-Russian regional structure of drug consumption.

• While drug-trafficking groups are often based on ethnic links, the importance of the ethnic factor shouldn't be overestimated as only evident minority of ethnic migrants to Russia are involved in smuggling.

• While the main stress in Russian anti-narcotic policies is laid on restrictive measures (that is reflected on the distribution of budget funding) all Russian security and police agencies, taking together, seem to be able to seize not more than 2,5% of heroin brought to and circulating in Russian illegal markets.

Research papers written during the fellowship period:

a) Published papers:

Narcotics-related Issues in Volgograd Region. In: Bulletin of the Network for Ethnic Monitoring and Early Warning of Conflict. 2006 (65): 17-18.The Issue of Narcomania in Russia: National Security vs. Civil Society? In: PONARS Policy Conference. Policy Memos Nos. 367-403. Washington, D.C. December 9, 2005. Washington: Center for Strategic and International Studies, 2005: 113-118.

Drug-Trafficking through Central Asia to Russia: Threat and Ways of Counteraction. In: Regional Developments: Interaction and Encounter of Strategies. Tehran: Institute of International and Political Studies, 2005: 85-86.

b) Papers submitted for publication:

Drug-trafficking as a Challenge for Russia's Border and Security Policies (report submitted for publication to the Volgograd Academic Publishing House).

Drug-trafficking through Post-Soviet Borders as a Challenge for Russian Security (submitted to «Acta Slavica Iaponica», Sapporo, Japan).

Drug-trafficking through Russia-Kazakhstan Border: Challenge and Responses (submitted for the edited volume of the papers of seminar “Regional and Transregional Dynamism in Central Eurasia: Empires, Islam and Politics” [Slavic Research Center, Sapporo, Japan]) .

Transboundary Crime in Russia's Borderlands with Azerbaijan, Georgia and Kazakhstan: Social and Political Issues [together with Vladimir Boyko, Yana Denisova, Bulat Fatkulin, Eka Gigauri, Rovshan Ibragimov, Svetlana Kozhirova, Oskar Kunavin, Ilya Toropitsyn] (analytical report submitted to the Volgograd State University Publishing House).

Transboundary Drug-Trafficking to Russia: the Importance of Ethnic Factor (submitted for the edited volume of the papers of the conference «Problems of Legislation and Allpication of Law in Field of Counteraction to the Turnover of Illicit Drugs”, South Ural State University Publishing House, Chelyabinsk).

Conferences attended (as paper presenter):

IV Conference of All-Russia Alumni of the Fulbright Program “Freedom From Fear”. Volgograd, April 18 – 19, 2006.

International Conference. Border management in an insecure world. Durham, 5-7 April 2006

International seminar “The Baltic States in the European Union: New Role and Opportunities for Trans-border Cooperation and Improving Border Management”. Velikiy Novgorod, 10 February 2006.

PONARS Policy Conference of the Program for New Approaches to Russian Security. Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington, D.C., December, 2005.

November, 2005. The 13th International Conference on Central Asia and the Caucasus" Regional Developments: Interaction and Encounter of Strategies". Institute for Political and International Studies. Tehran, Iran.

Conference «Problems of Legislation and Allpication of Law in Field of Counteraction to the Turnover of Illicit Drugs”. Chelyabinsk, 28 October 2005.

Summer International Symposium “Regional and Transregional Dynamism in Central Eurasia: Empires, Islam and Politics” Sapporo, 6-7 July, 2005.

Dissemination of results

1. Copies of the report «Drug-trafficking as a Challenge for Russia's Border and Security Policies» submitted to the Volgograd Academic Publishing House) after its publication will be sent to governmental agencies (Federal Security Council of Russian Federation, Russian Customs Service, State Agency for the Control over Drugs and Psychotropic Substances) and international organizations (United Nations Drugs and Crime Office in Moscow).

2. Copies of the report «Transboundary Crime in Russia's Borderlands with Azerbaijan, Georgia and Kazakhstan: Social and Political Issues” after its publication will be sent to central and regional bodies of Azerbaijani, Russian, Georgian, and Kazakhstani Border Guard and Customs Services.

3. An analytical report on the narcotics-related issues of Volgograd province was prepared for provincial government in March 2006.

4. During the conference «Problems of Legislation and Allpication of Law in Field of Counteraction to the Turnover of Illicit Drugs” (Chelyabinsk, 28 October 2005) and the seminar “The Baltic States in the European Union: New Role and Opportunities for Trans-border Cooperation and Improving Border Management” (Velikiy Novgorod, 10 February 2006) I have a possibility to meet many representatives of the corresponding regional branches of Gosnarkokontrol and Border Guard Service. I had a possibility to discuss a wide range of issues with them that allowed me, on the one hand, propose recommendations and, on the other hand, to receive a feedback for my research.

5. In September, 2006 I intend to submit a paper for All-Russian Competition Of Intellectual Projects organized by the Public Chamber of Russian Federation. The paper will be based on the results of the project.

Other related international projects

In 2004-2005 I was a head of the international research project «Drug-trafficking as a Challenge for Russia's Border and Security Policies» funded by Transnational Crime and Corruption Center of the American University, Washington, D.C., USA. As a result, a report will be published in Summer 2006. The project of IPF helped me to improve the part of this report containing the analysis of drug-trafficking issues.

In April 2005 and March 2006 I was one of the main organizers of the program of student exchange between Volgograd State University and Western Kazakhstan University. In the course of this program I delivered Kazakhstani students 3 lectures on the topic of the reported project.

The issues related to dissemination of illegal drugs to Volgograd province of Russia were analyzed by me in three publications submitted for the Bulletin of the Network for Early Warning of Conflicts in which I'm participating as an expert. This network includes specialists in fields of Ethnic and Conflict Studies from the majority of post-Soviet countries.

Teaching Courses Updated

I have updated my teaching course “Russia's Post-Soviet Borderlands: Security and Cooperation Issues”in Volgograd State University (International Relations Program). In autumn 2006 I will submit for publication the outline of this course.

Sergey V. Golunov

April 2006