SAMARA, Volga Region, August 24 (AVN) - A commission of the Russian Defence Ministry arrived here on Friday to find out reasons behind the unprecedented desertion of 74 active-duty servicemen from the Chernorechye garrison, a spokesman for the Volga district headquarters told the Military News Agency.
The commission is led by Lieutenant General Vladimir Kozhemyakin, acting head of the ministry's main education work department.
The 74 servicemen of the 589th motorised regiment went AWOL on Wednesday. The police detained 63 of them the same day and six more in the evening.
According to the spokesman, all the soldiers were delivered back to their units. He objected, however, to calling the servicemen deserters. "The servicemen left their units to ask the district command for assistance in solving their problems. It is a common collective conflict caused by reconstruction of barracks and resulting inconvenience. Besides, the boys had misunderstanding with natives of North Caucasian republics transferred to their unit. Emotional tensions reached the limit and the soldiers had to seek assistance from the command," the spokesman said.
The district's acting chief-of-staff Major General Alexander Bespalov has met the "pilgrims" and promised not to punish them and help solve their problems.
The district's military prosecutors have started investigating the incident. First results of their activity show that the desertion is motivated by an ethnic conflict. Over 50 servicemen of the Dagestani origin were trying to gain leadership in the unit by means of hazing, which provoked numerous conflicts. The regiment command was aware of the situation but did not take any measures. Prosecutors have launched several criminal cases against North Caucasian soldiers.
The commission is tasked to study methods of the regiment command's education work. The corresponding department in the district was until recently supervised by Major General Yevgeny Veselov, who had never worked in the sphere of education before.