Russian confirms high level of non-combat deaths in soldiers

The Russian defence ministry revealed Monday that 662 soldiers died outside of combat this year, with almost 200 of them having committed suicide.
Many of those deaths were probably due to the brutal hazing that many recruits undergo in the army, which Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov officially acknowledged earlier this year along with a pledge to crack down on those responsible.
Ivanov said in June that he would release official figures to "avoid rumours" after he came under sharp criticism in the Russian press because of the high level of non-combat deaths.
Today's figures were immediately condemned as "colossal" by an organisation of soldiers' mothers. The daily Novye Izvestia earlier this year said the non-combat fatalities were "catastrophic."
The figures released Wednesday, and published on Monday on the defence ministry's Internet site, said 183 soldiers were killed in traffic accidents, 182 committed suicide, 175 were killed in other accidents and 60 died as a result of attacks by civilians.The ministry did not include combat casualties or figures for the interior ministry troops that make up more then half of the contingent based in Chechnya, where the country is engaged in a long-running war against separatist rebels.
Chechnya's pro-Russian administration issues frequent statements about losses among the security forces, though official figures are often criticised as too low by non-governmental organisations.
The leader of the union of of soldiers' mothers' committees, Valentina Melnikova, told Moscow's Radio Echo: "To lose 660 men in six months is a terrible toll."
"Our children are also dying in Chechnya, overseas, in Tadjikistan and in Georgia. These deaths are not taken into account in today's figures."
The ministry figures said 101 soldiers were killed outside combat for the month of August alone, compared to which official casualties in Chechnya were relatively low - four killed in fighting, three killed outside combat and one missing.
A report by the US advocacy group Human Rights Watch in October 2004 blamed the hazing of young army recruits and officers' negligence for many of the non-combat deaths. Hazing is said to include the beating and mistreatment of recruits by senior officers.