11 Jul 2013 12:13

Russia ready to send its border guards to Tajik-Afghan border - official

MOSCOW. July 11 (Interfax) - Russian border guards could return to the Tajik-Afghan border as part of measures to combat drug trafficking, director of the Russian Federal Drug Control Service (FSNK) Viktor Ivanov said.

"We are prepared to extend such assistance, but the authorities' consent is required for this," Ivanov told reporters in Moscow on Thursday, answering a question from Interfax.

Russian advisers are currently working in Tajikistan as consultants to that country's authorities on border protection issues, he said.

"But advisers are not large units and they can not be immediately involved in protecting the border," Ivanov said.