Kiev’s attempts to distribute drugs in Donbass and illegal trafficking: Security Council

MOSCOW, May 12. /TASS/. Russia sees the Kiev regime’s efforts to distribute drugs among the population of Donbass, the press service of the Russian Security Council said. It also stated that the number of drug-related crimes in the first quarter of 2026 decreased by 40% compared to the same period last year. TASS has summed up key statement by the Russian Security Council. Russia sees the Kiev regime’s efforts to distribute drugs among the population of Donbass: "The Federal Security Service has disrupted the activities of 25 members of an organized drug ring operated from Ukrainian territory, which was involved in the supply, packaging, and distribution of drugs within the Donetsk People's Republic, as well as in promoting drug addiction among the republic’s youth." The number of drug-related crimes in the first quarter of 2026 decreased by 40% compared to the same period last year: "The analysis of key indices of anti-drug activities in the first quarter of 2026 indicates that the number of registered drug-related crimes decreased by 40.1% compared to the same period last year. The share of drug-related crimes in the overall structure of crimes shrank from 12.8% to 9.2%. More than 6.5 tons of narcotics, psychotropic substances and their analogues were seized in the first quarter of this year: "In the investigated criminal cases, over 6.5 tons of narcotics, psychotropic substances and their analogues were seized from illicit trafficking, most of which are synthetic psychoactive substances." "There has been a continuing positive downward trend in the amount of heroin seized from illicit trafficking since 2021 thanks to a global reduction in opium drug trafficking from the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan." Russia is expanding international cooperation "to counter drug trafficking." "Law enforcement agencies and special services are working to undermine the economic basis of drug-relates crime and the 6.1% growth in the exposed drug proceeds laundering crimes prove this." Russia’s underground drug market in January-March 2026, as in pervious periods, rested on domestic production, illegal exports, "as well as illegal cultivating and collecting narcotics-containing plants, first of all cannabis."