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Doped up and holed up: Once militants’ drugs run out, they’ll give up, predicts Russian MP

Mentioning where these drugs came from, Vodolatsky pointed out that they had been provided to Ukraine’s military as part of Western aid

ROSTOV-ON-DON, May 6. /TASS/. Pro-Nazi Ukrainian radicals entrenched in the Azovstal steelmaking complex in Mariupol will lay down their arms once they run out of the powerful narcotic drugs that they are taking, Deputy Chairman of the Russian State Duma (the lower house of parliament) Committee on CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots Viktor Vodolatsky told TASS on Friday.

"Every prisoner of war and every dead nationalist that I have seen, had 300 grams or more of special narcotic pills in their backpacks, which is what they use. One pill causes rage while the other numbs the pain. The Azov nationalist battalion has plenty of these narcotics stocked up. They will hold their ground in Azovstal until they run out of these drugs. And once they do, they will start experiencing withdrawal that will drive them to surrender," the senior Russian lawmaker assured.

Mentioning where these drugs came from, Vodolatsky pointed out that they had been provided to Ukraine’s military as part of Western aid. According to him, the assistance kit also contains a third type of tablet that’s anti-allergic. "This is how they are ‘taking care’ of nationalists: they give them that drug so that they don’t die too soon from popping all those pills," the lawmaker added.

On April 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated at a meeting with Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu that it would be unreasonable to storm Azovstal and called the operation off, giving an order to the military to block off the industrial zone. On May 4, Shoigu announced that the remaining Ukrainian military units had been tightly boxed in at the Azovstal plant and the Russian Armed Forces were continuing efforts to persuade them to lay down their arms and let civilians go.