NOVOSIBIRSK. Jan 9 (Interfax-AVN) - Law enforcement agencies of Western Siberia are trying to apprehend two servicemen of an engineer company of the Sevastopol motorized rifle regiment who had gone AWOL, military prosecutor of the Novosibirsk garrison Lieutenant Colonel Pavel Bukhtoyarov told Interfax-Military News Agency on Wednesday.
Absence of lance sergeants Renat Zabirov and Dmitry Maksimov drafted from the Kemerovo region was noticed at a morning line-up at 9:00 local time (0300 GMT) on Tuesday.
Despite the fact that the deserters left their regiment without weapons, the incident at once won the highlight. The point is that RUB500,000 (USD16,323) was stolen from the safe of the company's commander on the night the sergeants deserted. The money was to be paid to the servicemen of the engineer company who had participated in the mine defusing and clearing the ruins of the munitions storage facilities destroyed in the fire last year.
A criminal investigation has been launched in the wake of the desertion, with one of the version being that the deserters had stolen the money.