On the 24th of May, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, met with the UN Secretary General’s envoy, Staffan di Mistura in Moscow. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry’s official site, there was a lively exchange of views on issues of Afghan settlement. Ways of strengthening the UN leading role in international civilian efforts to ensure peace and stability in Afghanistan were discussed – including in the context of the upcoming Peace Jirga in early June and the international high-level conference on Afghanistan scheduled for July in Kabul.

“The Russian side reaffirmed its support for the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, and noted the need for thorough deliberation of all the parameters of the national reconciliation process being launched in Afghanistan with regard for the relevant UN Security Council decisions and the provisions of the communiqué of the International Conference on Afghanistan held in London on January 28, 2010, as well as the UNSC sanctions regime against individuals and entities suspected of associating with Al-Qaida and/or the Taliban,” says the Russian Foreign Ministry statement.

Questions of the struggle against illegal production and trafficking of Afghan drugs were substantively discussed, which Sergey Lavrov described as a threat to international peace and security.

The importance of establishing effective international and regional cooperation in countering the Afghan drug threat was emphasized at a meeting between the Deputy Foreign Minister Alexei Borodavkin and the UN Secretary General’s envoy, Staffan di Mistura. The two sides welcomed the close cooperation between the Russian embassy in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the UN mission the country.