TEHRAN – The Iranian police chief has said that Iran and Russia inked security agreements in many areas of cooperation, including police, cyber space, terror fight, and campaign against smuggling.  

Ahmad Reza Radan, the chief commander of Iranian police, made the remarks on Thursday at the end of his three-day visit to Russia, where he met many Russian security officials. 

“During the trip to Moscow, we had meetings with the Secretary of the Security Council of Russia, as well as the First Deputy of the Federal Security Service, the First Deputy Director of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Commander of the National Guard of the Russian Federation, which were accompanied by good agreements,” Radan told IRNA. 

He pointed out that the development of cooperation between friendly and aligned countries has a good effect on bilateral or multilateral law enforcement and security measures. Radan called the development of security and law enforcement cooperation between Tehran and Moscow influenced by the level of strategic relations between the two countries.

Referring to some similarities between the police and security structures of Iran and Russia, the police chief said, “The duties and missions of the Iranian police are defined in a ministry and several organizations of the Russian Federation, such as the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the National Guard, and the Intelligence Organization.”

Referring to the signing of the memorandum of cooperation with the Russian National Guard during his official visit to Moscow, Radan said, “This memorandum was signed with the aim of developing bilateral cooperation in the field of education as well as exchanging technology and experiences and benefiting from each other's abilities in carrying out missions.”

He added, “The National Guard of the Russian Federation has similarities with the [Iranian] Special Forces Organization, the Special Anti-Terrorism and Hostage-liberating Forces of the [Iranian] police. It also includes combat units, which have similarities with the Iranian police’s commandos.”

As regards drugs smuggling, Radan said, “This issue is one of the threats facing the countries and it is one of the profitable and favorite businesses of traffickers and traders of death.”

He continued, “One of the enemies' tools for harming countries is to spread the use of industrial or traditional narcotics. According to the international conditions, the West wants to open the way for the transfer of narcotics to Russia and expand it further. Therefore, in the negotiations we had in Moscow, the Russian and the Iranian police sides declared their desire for further cooperation.”

Radan noted, “The Islamic Republic of Iran is one of the most unique countries in the fight against narcotics. In this field, it has experience, practice and action, which in our negotiations in Russia, the Russian side acknowledged this issue and wanted Iran's cooperation in this field.”

Referring to the agreements of his trip to Moscow, he said, “With the dispatch of experts from both sides, the path of cooperation between the Iranian and Russian police will be opened to fight against narcotics.”

Radan traveled to Moscow on Tuesday at the official invitation of the Russian National Guard. He returned to Iran on Thursday evening at the end of his three-day trip.