DRUG-RELATED CRIME SOARS IN RUSSIA

MOSCOW (AP) -- Despite a declining overall crime rate in Russia, the number
of drug-related offenses nearly doubled in 1997, the country's top
anti-drug official said Tuesday.

Interior Minister Anatoly Kulikov said law enforcement agencies need more
money to combat the growing illegal drug problem. Kulikov heads a
government anti-drug commission and his ministry is in charge of police.

The number of drug users in Russia has soared to 2 million since the 1991
breakup of the Soviet Union, with the fastest growth among women and
teen-agers, Kulikov said, according to Russian news agencies.

Increasing drug abuse and trafficking has led to more drug-related crime,
he said. He did not provide any figures.

The overall crime rate dropped 9 percent last year.

The drug trade brings in more than $1 billion a year in profits to criminal
groups, Kulikov said.

Russia has become a major drug market and key transit route, with the
largest flow coming from Afghanistan. Opium is refined into heroin as it
works its way through the former Soviet republics of Central Asia and on to
Russia, Western Europe and the United States.