SAMARA, Russia — The Russian Military Prosecutor’s Office has begun an investigation into the deaths of three privates in a military unit in the western town of Kinel, RFE/RL’s Russian Service reports.
Samara Oblast Military Prosecutor Aleksandr Chalyshev said on June 15 that the case has been classified as “a violation of safety norms during construction work that led to the death of two or more people.”
On June 9, three dead soldiers were found in a fuel tanker at the military unit in Kinel, which is in Samara Oblast. It is unclear how the soldiers’ bodies ended up in the tanker. The bodies have been sent for forensic examination.
Local human rights activist Lyudmila Kuzmina said she doubts the true cause of the soldiers’ deaths will ever be established.
She told RFE/RL that an investigation should have been launched immediately after the bodies were found.
Kuzmina said soldiers are dying in the Russian army on a regular basis because of the “gradual collapse” of government institutions.
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