Soldiers killed at nuclear base
 |
Shootings and suicides are common among Russian army conscripts.
Story Tools
|
MOSCOW, Russia -- A soldier at a Russian nuclear forces site killed four comrades before killing himself, army authorities said.
The conscript shot the four servicemen guarding an equipment storehouse on a Siberian missile base just after midnight on Wednesday, then shot himself, the Strategic Rocket Forces said.
Sergei Khanov had been stationed at the base near the city of Krasnoyarsk, about 3,400 kilometres (2,100 miles) east of Moscow, for a year, the Forces said in a statement.
He opened fire with a Kalashnikov automatic rifle at the heads of the guards and three other conscripts in a guardroom. The Interfax news agency reported that other soldiers in the unit escaped by hiding in an attic.
According to a preliminary investigation, the Forces said, "the cause of the tragedy might be a psychological breakdown caused by a higher burden of military service."
The demoralised and underfunded Russian military is plagued by desertions, killings and suicides, many of which stem from bullying of young conscripts by older soldiers.
But such incidents have been rare among troops in charge of Russia's nuclear arsenal.
Anti-conscription activists argue that only a transfer to a fully-contract army can reduce the numbers killed in such shootings.
Copyright 2003 CNN. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
