NIZHNY NOVGOROD. Sept 2 (Interfax-AVN) - Search operations aimed at detaining an armed deserter are underway in the Saratov region, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry's main department in the Volga federal district told Interfax-Military News Agency on Monday.
"Private of a Defense Ministry unit Popov, 19, went AWOL when guarding an installation in the Peschanka village of the Atkar district at about 10:00 a.m. Moscow time (0600 GMT) on Friday. The serviceman had an AK-74 assault rifle and 60 cartridges to it," the spokesman said.
All law-enforcement agencies in the Saratov region were put on high alert.
Popov was drafted from the Saratov region on December 25, 2001.