As Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus continue to intensify their trade and investment cooperation within the framework of the newly created Customs Union, their law enforcement authorities are voicing concerns over the spread of organized crime across the single customs area of three member states. Such statements were made on August 23 and 24 when the Kazakhstani, Russian and Belorussian interior ministers met in Uralsk (West Kazakhstan) and Astana to discuss new ways to combat transnational crime and ensure law and order in the changed circumstances. These high-level meetings also assembled representatives of the Border Control Service of Kazakhstan’s National Security Committee, the Customs Control Committee of Kazakhstan’s Finance Ministry, and the Border Service and the Federal Customs Service of the Russian Federation.

The first part of a broad discussion took place between the law enforcement, border control and migration authorities of four Kazakhstani and four Russian neighboring regions, sharing the longest borderline between the two countries. “It is not a secret that leaders of organized crime groups are now busy studying the ongoing processes and working out their tactics under new conditions. They are worried about the fact that their corrupt liaisons consolidated through years of work are now being disrupted. They have to look for brand new approaches to promote their criminal interests in terms of establishing contraband channels”, said Rashid Nurgaliev, the Russian minister of internal affairs. He also stated that a special protocol had been signed to set up a single information database to enable shared information usage, stressed the importance of ongoing trilateral harmonization of crime prevention laws and pointed to the need for ensuring fair economic competition, fearing an upsurge in corrupt practices.

As regards Russian involvement in the establishment of a new “security architecture”, the term first used by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to describe the security situation in the Euro-Atlantic region, Nurgaliev promised to open Russia’s GLONASS satellite system to Kazakhstan and Belarus. He even suggested that Kazakhstani customs authorities extend a “green” corridor to all trucks bound for Russia via Kazakhstan provided that they are equipped with GLONASS tracking devices.

The Russian interior minister praised the current trend in Russia-Kazakhstan law enforcement cooperation, referring to the apprehension of a Kazakhstani citizen in Moscow who is accused of money laundering at a value of US$ 1.3 million. Another example cited by the minister was linked to the arrest of a black caviar smuggler with dual citizenship who used clandestine routes across the Caspian Sea. “We should forecast possible scenarios of transformation of the crime situation, particularly with regard to smuggling, unlawful car sales, drug trafficking and illegal migration, and adequately respond to the criminal world’s challenge”, said his Belorussian colleague, Minister Anatoly Kuleshov, who had earlier praised the role of the Customs Union in further economic rapprochement of three former Soviet countries.

Earlier on August 23, the deputy head of the Russian Border Service, Yevgeny Inchin, said that the border between Kazakhstan and Russia had become the place of operation of more than 120 criminal groups engaged in drug trafficking. According to the top border control official, Afghan drugs are smuggled to the Russian territory through Kazakhstan with transit points in the cities of Astrakhan, Chelyabinsk, Orenburg and the region of Altai in Russia. “Russian customs officials seize about 30 percent of all drugs entering Russia across the Russia-Kazakhstan border”, Inchin added.

When the floor was given to Serik Baimaganbetov, Kazakhstan’s interior minister, he promptly reassured his counterparts that the existing bilateral and multilateral agreements represented a solid legal basis to reinforce current cooperation schemes and implement joint programs. He also reminded his listeners of the ongoing large-scale law enforcement reform in Kazakhstan initiated by President Nazarbayev and laid out in his decree of August 17, 2010. In pursuance of the President’s instructions, Kazakhstan’s Prosecutor-General’s Office will optimize the transport prosecution by merging three regional transport prosecutor’s offices into a single unit with nationwide coverage.

The Government of Kazakhstan is further expected to formalize the establishment of a new criminal investigation committee under the Ministry of Internal Affairs and to set up a new migration committee to replace the one previously attached to the Labor Ministry.

The declared purpose of this ambitious reform is said to streamline the operation of law enforcement authorities which are currently overburdened with extraneous responsibilities, such as the upkeep of detoxication centers to be transferred to the Ministry of Health or the supervision of correction and rehabilitation centers for juvenile delinquents, that are supposed to be handed over to the Ministry of Education. Nurgaliev also referred to the comprehensive reform of police forces in Russia, spurred by the Presidential Administration, saying that the process of drastic transformations has been lasting for eight months and has so far yielded similar results.