Syrian mercenaries pose drug threat to Russian Caucasus

Syrian mercenaries pose a threat to Russia’s North Caucasus regions, and may in the future organize Afghan drug trafficking routes via the regions, the chief of Russia’s drug enforcement service said. Viktor Ivanov, who heads the Federal Drug Control Service, said experts believe "foreign legionnaire mercenaries in Syria… will rush toward the Caucasus" when they have nothing to do in Syria, RIA Novosti reported. A senior official in Russia’s Federal Security Service said in September that some 300 or 400 Russians were fighting alongside the rebels in Syria, where over two years of fighting between government and opposition forces have claimed the lives of more than 100,000 people, according to UN estimates.