Putin’s War in Ukraine Leading to Increased Use of Illegal Drugs in Russian Army and Society

Paul Goble

            Staunton, July 5 – Putin’s war in Ukraine is leading to increased use of illegal drugs not only in the Russian army but in Russian society, the result of the willingness of officials to release drug abusers and distributors who agree to serve in Ukraine and the absence of sufficient programs for veterans suffering from PTSD who then decide to self-medicate.

            Those are the conclusions of an investigation carried out by the Dovod (“Argument”) independent news agency. It adds that Russian officials don’t acknowledge either problem and thus are failing to take action. As a result, illegal drug use is rising both in the military and in society as a whole (dovod.online/narkotiki-v-rossijskoj-armii-issledovanie-dovoda/).

            Dovod reaches its conclusions on the basis of an examination of criminal convictions for drug abuse both among those who were released from incarceration to fight in Ukraine and those who have returned and of an interview with an expert who has sought to treat drug abusing veterans in the absence of any state program for them (t.me/dovod3/12076).

            While some may be inclined to dismiss this finding as anecdotal, the news service does report on a study of drug abuse in one Russian region that shows that the number of convictions for the misuse of drugs has skyrocketed since Putin began his expanded war in Ukraine in February 2022 (mrb.avo.ru/monitoring-narkosituacii1).

            While the officials who released that report note the increases, they are avoid any discussion suggesting that the surge in drug use in their region has anything to do with the war in Ukraine, an ideologically necessary but practically dangerous approach, given that the monitors say that drug abuse continues to rise at a rapid rate.