EvanL
04-27-2004, 05:07 PM
78 have taken their own lives in first four months of 2004
MOSCOW (AP) — Nearly 80 servicemen, including 24 officers, in the Russian military committed suicide since the beginning of this year, the Interfax-Military news agency reported today.
Citing an unidentified Defence Ministry source, the Interfax-Military News Agency said that 78 servicemen had killed themselves since the start of 2004.
No comparative figures for previous years were given, but Interfax cited its source as saying the military was alarmed by the increase in suicides among senior officers.
The Defence Ministry refused to comment on the report.
The demoralized and under-financed Russian military sees numerous violent deaths and suicides even in units far from conflict zones. Conscripts complain of brutal hazing by older soldiers and abuse by officers. Many officers, meanwhile, are demoralized by the loss of privileges and respect that they had enjoyed during the former Soviet Union.
Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov had earlier said that 337 Russian soldiers were killed in 2003 as a result of crimes and accidents. Thirty-five per cent of those deaths resulted from suicide, he said. Other leading causes of death were violations of safety regulations and traffic rules, the Interfax-Military News Agency reported.
Some 1.2 million people serve in the Russian military.
MOSCOW (AP) — Nearly 80 servicemen, including 24 officers, in the Russian military committed suicide since the beginning of this year, the Interfax-Military news agency reported today.
Citing an unidentified Defence Ministry source, the Interfax-Military News Agency said that 78 servicemen had killed themselves since the start of 2004.
No comparative figures for previous years were given, but Interfax cited its source as saying the military was alarmed by the increase in suicides among senior officers.
The Defence Ministry refused to comment on the report.
The demoralized and under-financed Russian military sees numerous violent deaths and suicides even in units far from conflict zones. Conscripts complain of brutal hazing by older soldiers and abuse by officers. Many officers, meanwhile, are demoralized by the loss of privileges and respect that they had enjoyed during the former Soviet Union.
Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov had earlier said that 337 Russian soldiers were killed in 2003 as a result of crimes and accidents. Thirty-five per cent of those deaths resulted from suicide, he said. Other leading causes of death were violations of safety regulations and traffic rules, the Interfax-Military News Agency reported.
Some 1.2 million people serve in the Russian military.