The head of the civil-military cooperation group of the 425th separate assault regiment "Skelya" Andriy Suray said in an interview with "Radio Svoboda" that more than 500 military personnel of the unit were identified as drug addicts and sent for treatment.
Earlier, Babel in a major investigation into the situation in "Skelya" wrote in particular about the service and torture of people with drug addiction.
According to Suray, these servicemen have the appropriate documents. They are in various institutions and receive the “necessary drugs” there. The figure of 2 000 people with drug addiction in the regiment, previously reported by the military ombudsman Olha Reshetylova, is based on data that the unit transmitted independently.
This is not the result of MMC (because the MMC decision states that these servicemen are fit), but the result of internal observations and recording of cases of abstinence (“withdrawal”) during service.
Suray also said that 13 servicemen with tuberculosis were recorded in the unit, who were hospitalized and are being treated. Separately, he said, there is a "certain number" of servicemen with hepatitis C, who are required by law to serve.
Suray noted that such cases are under medical supervision, and the condition of the servicemen can vary from remission to exacerbation, which affects their fitness for service.
Investigation of Babel and drug addicts
On June 23, Babel published a major investigation into the situation in the 425th Assault Regiment “Skelya”. We interviewed more than 30 witnesses, mostly relatives of those mobilized to “Skelya”, as well as a dozen soldiers from the regiment who escaped or are still serving there.
Babel identified 25 deaths in the regiment’s training centers over the past six months, and also described cases of torture and abuse of those undergoing training.
In particular, the Babel article also mentions the service of people with drug addiction. For example, one of the active-duty soldiers of the "Skelya" witnessed a "zombie apocalypse" during a formation, to which drug addicts were brought: people were beaten, some defecated involuntarily right in line.
Another mobilized man anonymously told how he spent two days in a punishment cell with six people, four of whom were in a state of abstinence. Drug addicts were knocking down doors, rioting, and the guards calmed them down by spraying tear gas into the cell.
The editorial office also has anonymous testimonies that mobilized men with HIV, tuberculosis, and hepatitis C were kept in the unit, depriving them of the opportunity to take the medications necessary for life.
Following the Babel material, the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) launched a pre-trial investigation into the facts made public by Babel. The regiment is staffed by a mission from the Ombudsmanʼs Office and a comprehensive commission headed by the Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. On June 24, the commander of the 425th Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Yuriy Harkavy, was suspended from duty for the duration of the inspection.
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