While Russian President Boris Yeltsin is tackling the defence-related problems and meeting Belrus President Alexander Lukashenko to discuss integration plans, the country is suffering from an altogether different crisis.

Sergei, a typical Russian teenager, was being treated for drug addition, under the Government Drug Treatment Programme at Moscow's Hospital No 17. He along with his other two companions, Maria and Volodya, used to shoot up everyday in an apartment hallway. One afternoon, he escaped from the hospital only to die that night from an overdose.

Maria has hepatitis from sharing drug needles. Doctors say her liver is now in such bad shape that she is likely to die a painful death from the disease.Drug addition in Russia has surged rapidly to become an epidemis. It has mostly affected younger people, threatening the next generation of Russians and deepening Russia's crises of crime, disease and disorder.

According to the Russian Interior Ministry, about two million Russians regularly take illegal drugs and as many as 15 per cent of the country's 150 million population have had contact with narcotic substances. Some independent researchers put the figure at five million.

Although the main group of drug addicts are reported to be between the ages of 20 and 30, the victims of `white death' are more often children and teenagers. According to official figures, in 1996, the number of drug addicts among teenagers increased by 36 per cent, which accounts only for those who were registered in drug treatment centres.

``You can't imagine how big the problem is,'' says Vera, a student at the Moscow State University. ``If you take ordinary schools, I think, 80 per cent of the pupils are using drugs.''

Says Alexander Sergeyev, chief of the Interior Ministry's anti-drug department: ``The number of people taking drugs in Russia has increased many-fold in the past decade. The rate of increase is especially high among young people.''

In the past five years, they have increasingly switched from traditional drugs like hashis to more costly substances like heroin and cocaine. Synthetic substances like ecstasy have also gained popularity.s,

He described the alarming increase in the number of teenagers addicted to drugs as a ``national threat'' and termed drug addiction in Russia an ``epidemic,'' adding, ``I would say like an infectious disease.''

Indeed, a nationwide `infectious disease', alarming the world community. Because Russia has now turned into a hub of drug activity for all of Europe.

Most drugs entering Russia from foreign sources are moved mainly by rail and road transport, but at least 10 per cent pass through the country's airports, frequently in transit to other European and African destinations.

Sixty tonnes of drugs were confiscated in 1996 of which at least 40 tonnes were headed for other countries.

Opium and heroin arrive from Afghanistan via Central Asia, from the Golden Crescent of Pakistan, Iran and Turkey and the Golden Triangle of Burma, Thailand and Laos. Many synthetic drugs enter Russia from Europe, while cocaine comes in from Latin America.

Last month, at a UN-sponsored international conference on drug control in Moscow, Russian officials said Russia is seeking about $177 million in foreign assistance to fund a four-year programme to tackle the mounting drug problem.

Russia's Interior and Health Ministries are also reportedly worried at the unprecedented increase in drug-related crimes and infectious diseases. In 1995, there were about 3,000 drug-related crimes in Moscow, according to official figures, but nearly 5,000 were registered in 1996.

Likewise, more than 60 per cent of the new HIV cases registered in 1996 in Russia were among people who injected drugs, according to Health Ministry officials.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.