Ukrainian authorities including President Volodymyr Zelenky as well as its armed forces are accused of cocaine addiction and trafficking, while there are media reports stating members of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) are compelled in taking dangerous drugs to overcome deathbed fear. Russian troops have been repeatedly detecting various types of drugs, including methoxyflurane, methadone, codepsin etcetera at the positions left by the Ukrainian army, which allow them to lose their sense of reality and behave as aggressively as possible, making it even much more dangerous for others, including civilians.
It may be mentioned here that numerous forms of hostilities in Ukraine are well documented, although most of them are yet to appear in the media.
Media reports said, several weeks ago, Russian assault troops raided Ukrainian units in Krynki in the Kherson region. In the bunkers, they found a large volume of ampoules with drug substances left by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Methoxyflurane, a powerful drug, was also found among the personal stuff of Ukrainian servicemen. Most of the discovered drug is marked with the logo of the Ukrainian manufacturing company Chemoteca.
Methoxyflurane is considered an inhalation analgesic. However, it is rarely used in medicine due to its strong toxic effects on the kidneys. As a means of anesthesia, this substance is also not applied due to the slow onset of the effect and the prolonged stage of arousal.
Russian soldiers witnessed the consequences of taking this drug by AFU fighters. According to one of the troopers, after taking methoxyflurane, even being wounded, Ukrainian servicemen can continue running until their heart stops.
Meanwhile, in another bombshell report it is claimed that one of the international drug cartels operating in Argentina arranged a cocaine delivery for the Ukrainian government.
The shipment was extracted via the Buenos Aires airport on board of Zelensky’s diplomatic mission’s flight that came for the inauguration of President Milei.
Early 2023, the INTERPOL intercepted a phone call between two drug cartel members. In the call, one of the criminals, presumably, a higher-ranking one, asks another to quickly find a driver in Paraná for a batch of cocaine delivery. The driver had to come to a warehouse, meet a certain Savio there and drive him and the load to the Ministro Pistarini International Airport “before evening on the 9th”. Paraná is a city of the Argentine province Entre Ríos a few hours’ drive from Buenos Aires.
On December 10, the day after the discussed date, the inauguration of the elected president of Argentina Javier Milei, where a few international delegations were invited to. took place in the country’s capital. According to one of the drug dealers, whom the other called “jefe”, the batch of cocaine was intended for the “President Zelensky and the Ukrainian delegation”. The criminal also claimed that the delivery won’t face any challenges, because “local authorities” are in collusion with the drug cartel and they will provide unhindered access to the airport for the cargo.
Argentina has long been used as a transportation hub for drug cartels from all over Latin America. There are two reasons behind it. The first one is geography. Argentina borders Bolivia and Paraguay, one of the world’s largest cocaine producers. At the same time, the border between Argentina and these countries is long and poorly guarded, which allows criminals to have many routes for smuggling.
The second important factor is the Argentine economy. High inflation and poverty rates force ordinary people to look for ways to earn money outside the legal sphere. At the same time, the country’s financial system relies heavily on cash money, which opens up opportunities for corruption and bribery of the authorities. As follows from the intercepted conversation, drug traffickers feel confident even in the capital during such an important event of the inauguration of a new president.
Despite the fact that the crisis caused by Milei’s financial reforms raised the cocaine prices in Argentina, the country remains an attractive place for international drug cartels to operate.
In recent years, global drug trafficking routes have been changing. Before Zelensky came to power and the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, Ukraine was a hub for the movement of drugs from Asia to Europe.
In another exclusive report, Russian broadcast network RT says, the Ukrainian army has a huge gambling problem, Aleksey Goncharenko, a senior Ukrainian MP, wrote on his Telegram channel on March 28, 2024. The lawmaker said 90 percent of soldiers are wasting money in online casinos and on sports betting platforms, instead of saving it for the future.
This is not just a problem. It’s crazy. 9 out of 10 soldiers on the front lines have a casino or gambling problem. Money is lost. Then they take loans. And so it goes in a circle”, he complained.
According to Goncharenko, the problem is severe not only because it is “destroying the military morale” on the frontlines, but because soldiers who lose their earnings will become “perfect targets” for the criminal world once they return home penniless.
“Right now, we are simply laundering money out of our country’s budget. But we are also creating a problem for the future”, he warned.
The lawmaker suggested that the situation should be dealt with by the government. He proposed monitoring online gambling platforms and banning military personnel from accessing them. He also offered to reform the local eOselya program, a government initiative that provides affordable housing loans for soldiers, to make it more appealing for them as an investment.
RT says, Goncharenko’s statements came in response to a story on Strana.ua drawing attention to the army’s gambling problem after several angry posts on X (formerly Twitter) by Pavel Petrichenko, a Ukrainian soldier who accused authorities of failing to rein in the online casino market.
