Another Soldier Commits Suicide Near St. Petersburg
June 18, 2009
ST. PETERSBURG -- Another soldier from a military unit near St. Petersburg committed suicide on June 16, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports.
The soldier, 25, was a contract soldier in the Kamenka unit, which is located outside of St. Petersburg.
A conscript from the same unit
committed suicide last weekend.
The chairwoman of the Soldiers' Mothers Committee in St. Petersburg, Ella Polyakova, told RFE/RL that the suicide is further proof of the poor conditions in the unit.
A group of newly drafted recruits deserted the same military unit last week.
Polyakova says soldiers in the Kamenka unit are being beaten and humiliated on a daily basis.
Bullying and the humiliation of conscripts by older soldiers in the Russian Army has been a recognized problem in the Russian Army for a long time.
The Russian Defense Ministry
announced this week that 158 soldiers have died in noncombat incidents this year.