New Recruits Flee Russian Army Unit

ST. PETERSBURG -- A group of newly drafted recruits have fled their military unit near St. Petersburg, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports.

The Committee of Soldiers' Mothers, a prominent Russian NGO, informed journalists on June 12 that the group consists of five to seven new soldiers from Kostroma and Vologda Oblasts. The deserters reportedly are not armed.

Representatives of the NGO said that a newly drafted recruit from the same unit last month complained to them about the humiliating treatment of new members of the military unit.

Bullying or humiliation of conscripts by older soldiers in the Russian Army has been one of the most discussed problems in the military for several decades.