Paul Goble
Staunton, Aug. 28 – Illegal drug use is an increasing problem among Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine both because the military is taking in men already identified as drug addicts or convicted for related crimes and because soldiers are turning to drugs after joining the Russian military, the Dovod portal says.
This is not a problem Moscow wants to highlight and so does not provide statistics or opportunities for gathering them that could provide a comprehensive picture of just how serious this problem is becoming, but the portal, using data from Vladimir Oblast where it is based, provides some useful data (dovod.online/narkotiki-v-rossijskoj-armii-issledovanie-dovoda/).
A significant share of the 480 Vladimir Oblast residents who have died in the war either had drug problems or even drug convictions that would earlier have disqualified them from service but now do not, Dovod says (dovod.online/na-vojne-s-ukrainoj-pogibli-kak-minimum-480-zhitelej-vladimirskoj-oblasti/).
Just how serious that problem is becoming, the portal continues, is reflected in the growing number of court cases both criminal and administrative that have been brought against soldiers by military authorities, most of whom appear to have begun using drugs after they were inducted. The portal provides details on several of these.
An even more serious problem, Dovod suggests, is that a growing number of veterans suffering from PTSD are turning to illegal drugs to try to cope because the Russian authorities are not providing them with the help they need, a problem local doctors are complaining about (t.me/dovod3/12076).
Even the oblast anti-narcotics commission acknowledges that the problem of illegal drug use there has become worse over the last two years, but it is careful not to suggest that this is because of the war, an observation that would have landed it in deep trouble with Moscow (https://mrb.avo.ru/monitoring-narkosituacii1).
No comments:
Post a Comment