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Illegal arms trade may skyrocket due to Afghan quandary, warns Russian security official

"We have to state that the situation in that country poses a whole number of very serious threats not only to regional security but primarily to the national security of our country," Deputy Secretary of Russia’s Security Council Alexander Venediktov pointed out

MOSCOW, October 12. /TASS/. The developments in Afghanistan have exacerbated an entire slew of problems, including the illegal arms trade, which may soar to unprecedented proportions, Deputy Secretary of Russia’s Security Council Alexander Venediktov said on Tuesday.

"We have to state that the situation in that country poses a whole number of very serious threats not only to regional security but primarily to the national security of our country," the official said at a Russian Academy of Sciences’ session focusing on Afghanistan.

These threats include terrorism, extremism, drug trafficking, mass migration and "the export of radicalism," he specified.

"This also refers to illegal arms trade that may take on quite unprecedented dimensions in the context of the latest developments," the deputy secretary of Russia’s Security Council said.

As the Russian official also pointed out, "the United States has never provided such massive military and technical assistance to any of its allies in NATO and other organizations as it did to Afghanistan."

Given all these threats, the Afghan problems remain the focus of both Russia’s Security Council as a whole and its scientific council, Venediktov said.

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