MOSCOW, November 17. /TASS/. Countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) have embarked on efforts to close down conduits of movement by citizens from countries with heightened levels of terrorist activity, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev told an annual meeting of the Secretaries of the Security Councils of the CIS member states.

"Our law enforcement agencies and special services have taken the necessary measures to prevent the destabilization of the situation on the Commonwealth’s territory," he said. Patrushev stressed that "preventive operational measures have been undertaken to curb recruitment and block channels of movement by citizens from those countries with increased terrorist activity."

He noted that "in order to prevent attempts to transfer terrorist activity to the southern borders of the CIS, an exchange of information has been organized through the special services of Central Asian nations on the structure and plans of activities by international terrorist organizations."

"The joint measures to suppress the activities of international terrorist organizations during the command-and-staff, practical exercises are a positive development," he pointed out. Patrushev added that despite the pandemic restrictions, a major drug fighting operation (dubbed Channel-Granite Bastion) was carried out in Dushanbe in June. Over 14,000 officers from the CSTO’s competent authorities were involved.

"Thanks to coordinated efforts, over 5.5 tonnes of narcotics, psychotropic and potent substances were seized from illegal trafficking, around 800 drug crimes were registered and about 500 individuals were detained for committing drug-trafficking-related crimes," the Russian security chief added.

According to Patrushev, "the importance of addressing this issue over cooperation in the area of migration is defined by the ongoing processes of economic recovery in CIS countries and the opening of state borders." At the current meeting, he called for "assessing the impact of recovering migration flows to ensure public safety," as well as "issues of developing the legal foundations for international cooperation in this field.".