MOSCOW, August 19. /ITAR-TASS/. The chief of Russia’s federal drug control service FSKN has pointed to the major role heroin production in Afghanistan plays in the political and economic destabilization in Russia.

“I must say that the scale of narcotic drugs production in Afghanistan, which has surged up since the expansion of NATO’s military activities in the region, has long become a dominating factor for political destabilization in Russia and the for the destruction of its economic potential,” Viktor Ivanov said on Tuesday.

According to his estimates, the production of heroin in Afghanistan this year may be up to 800 tonnes.

Over the past few years the total area sown to opium poppy in Afghanistan doubled to 250,000 hectares.

“We expect an estimated 700-800 tonnes of heroin this year,” he said, adding that the profitability of drug trafficking was extremely high.

“In Afghanistan, one kilogram of heroin is available for $1,000. When it gets to the Moscow Region, its black market value gets up to $100,000,” Ivanov said.