Soldiers under the influence of drugs? A recent report from the UK think tank Royal United Services Institute for Defense and Security Studiesindicates that the Kremlin voluntarily sends soldiers who have used various drugs to the Ukrainian front in order to disinhibit them, analyzes Well-informed person in an article published Thursday.
The British report, published last May, is based on testimony from Ukrainian soldiers who say they often confront Russian fighters “under the influence of amphetamines and other narcotics”, known for their stimulant effect.
Ukrainian fighters in particular evoke men who continue to advance on the front lines even after being wounded. Remains of drugs consumed in liquid form were also found on the battlefield.
“Disposable” fighters
Probable objective of the Russian armed forces: to break the inhibitions of its men and thus push them to continue this war with an uncertain outcome after 18 months of fighting and while some combatants no longer hide their disappointment.
The report finds that these drugs are likely to be supplied to non-professional recruits, often trained in just a few days. Some may be volunteers, others Wagner men.
Many of these “disposable” fighters, as the report coolly summarizes, are used by Moscow to swell the ranks of its fighters and serve as mere cannon fodder.
A process already seen
In early July, a Russian soldier, speaking on condition of anonymity, had already told CNN that he had seen his superiors take painkillers before issuing absurd orders to their troops.
The process is not new. According to a report fromWell-informed person dating back to the beginning of the year, the German army sent men high on methamphetamine during World War II to increase surveillance on the front lines, while a few years earlier, the British supplied their soldiers with heroin during World War I.
More recently, the US military also supplied painkillers and amphetamines to its soldiers sent to Vietnam in the 1970s.
Source: BFM TV
