rst came the warmings, in messages among trends and families and on social media, to stock up on vital drugs in Russia before supplies were affected by crippling Westem sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine

Then some drugs indeed became harder to find at pharmacies in Moscow and other cities

"Not a single pharmacy in the city has it now a resident of Kazan told The Associated Press in late March about a blood thinner her father needs

Experts and heath authorities in Russia say the drug shortages are temporary-ove to panic buying and logistical difficulties for suppliers from the sanctions-but some remain worried that high-quality medicines will keep disappearing in the Russian market

Most likely there will be shortages: How catastrophic it will be I don't know" said Dr. Alexey Ena head of the cardiac intensive care unit in Moscow Hospital No. 25, and a professor at the Moscow based Progov Medical University 

Reports that Russians could not find certain medications in harmacies started surfacing in early March, shortly after Moscow unleashed a war on Ukraine, and sweeping sanctions left Russia increasingly isolated from the rest of the world

Microsoft Start

Patient's Monitor, a patients rights group in the Russian region of Dagestan on the Caspian Sea

began getting complaints in the second week of March