Investigators check circumstances of death of a soldier in Ashuluk Range, Astrakhan Region

In the context of the deaths of two conscripts in the Ashuluk Range, a criminal case was opened. The investigation is run by the Investigating Department of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) for the Caspian Flotilla. The perished soldiers were not prepared for the work they were ordered to do, human rights activists assert.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on August 14 conscripts Andrei Leonov and Dmitry Reshetov were killed by an unidentified explosive device in the Ashuluk Range in the Astrakhan Region. According to the spokesman of the Military Prosecutor's Office, the soldiers perished when cleaning up the range from ammunition.

The criminal case was opened on the grounds of an offense under Part 3, Article 349 of the Russian Criminal Code (violation of rules for handling objects which represent an increased risk to others, entailing death of two persons), the ICRF reports.

This is not the first death of soldiers at the range, Anatoly Salin, the co-chair of the Committee of Soldiers' Mothers of the Astrakhan Region, told in his interview to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. He believes that such works to clean up the area from shells and ammunition should be performed by specialists, while conscript soldiers in the best case should cordon the dangerous territory.

Let us remind you that on the instruction of the Presidential Council for Development of Civil Society Institutions and Human Rights, on July 16-20, 2012, the Ashuluk Range was visited by the Working Group on Civil-Military Relations, which studied the situation at the range. Then, its members revealed a number of violations of the rights of the military personnel. In December 2012, the works of ammunition disposal at the range were suspended; however, FSB experts repeatedly found unattended weapons and ammunition in the range.