Russia sacks general at base where conscript killed

By Staff
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MOSCOW, Aug 29 (Reuters) Russia has sacked a general who was in charge of a space force base where a young conscript was beaten so badly by drunk officers that he died this week, Interfax news agency reported today.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Serdyukov has sacked General Konstantin Chmarov, who was acting head of the base when the incident happened, Interfax quoted an unidentified source in the defence ministry as saying.

Conscript Sergei Sinkonen died on Monday after two drunk officers at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in the Arkhangelsk region of northern Russia beat him up with belts and then threw him in a dog cage, local authority officials told Reuters.

''The defence minister has decided to punish a host of officers and generals, including the acting head of the Plesetsk cosmodrome, Major General Konstantin Chmarov,'' the source told Interfax.

Bullying is commonplace in Russia's military, where recruits serve 18 months and face abusive treatment by older soldiers called ''dedovshchina,'' or ''rule of the grandfathers.'' Death or serious injury sometimes results from the beatings conscripts receive, though the space force prides itself on high levels of discipline and is considered an elite branch of the armed forces.

Doctors last year had to amputate the legs and genitals of Andrei Sychev, a conscript who was abused at the Chelyabinsk Tank Academy.

That caused deep embarrassment for then Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov, who is widely expected to run to replace President Vladimir Putin in 2008 when he steps down.

Serdyukov replaced Ivanov as defence minister in February when the latter was promoted by Putin to first deputy prime minister.

A local civilian official told Reuters last week that an officer and a warrant officer at the Plesetsk base went on the rampage after heavy drinking at a celebration of another warrant officer's wedding.

They came across three conscripts, one of whom ran away. Sinkonen and another conscript were badly beaten.

''They threw the solder into a cage for the guard dogs after they beat him up and he was only found in the morning. They (the warrant officer and captain) were very drunk,'' he said.

Sinkonen was born in 1986.

Reuters SS GC1852

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