Putin calls on CIS special services to counter common threats

Special services of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) members should be prepared for any possible threats, especially those from Afghanistan after the withdrawal of foreign troops, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday.

"The situation in Afghanistan will not calm down and improve. We must be ready for any scenarios," Xinhua reported Putin as saying during a meeting of security and intelligence services' chiefs of CIS countries here.

He stressed that Russia, however, hopes the situation in the fragile state will be controlled by official authorities.

Around half of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) is due to pull out of Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

Last month, the Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said that Russian armed forces have been training for possible reactions toward future events in the violence-torn country.

Putin said all CIS countries are facing common challenges.

The work of the CIS intelligence services can be effective only with united efforts, the Russian president said as he called for more fruitful cooperation on security issues.

He urged CIS members to work together and counter state security and internal stability, drug trafficking, illegal migration and terrorism, as well as other threats.

The CIS, founded in 1991 as a regional association of former Soviet republics, groups Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.