The Russian army has launched an inquiry into the apparent brutal beating of two conscript soldiers by their officers at a key space launch base in northern Russia, a military spokesman said Saturday.
"The investigation is ongoing. The commander of Russia's space forces is at the Plesetsk base," a spokesman for the forces, which carry out rocket launches and guard space facilities, told AFP. One of the conscripts, Sergei Sinkonen, was in hospital in a serious condition after the beating on August 15, the spokesman said. The other, Vadim Dzgoyev, has also needed treatment.
The popular daily Komsomolskaya Pravda said the officers were drunk and had kicked and beaten the two conscripts into a semi-conscious state before locking them up for a night in a cage with guard dogs. Russian Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov on Friday ordered Deputy Defence Minister Nikolai Pankov to go to Plesetsk to oversee the inquiry, Komsomolskaya Pravda said.
Russian officials have vowed to stamp out the problem of brutal practices in the Russian army, which have resulted in hundreds of injuries and deaths in recent years. But relatives and campaigners say that such incidents are frequently covered up and the culture of bullying against first-year army conscripts is deeply engrained in the system.