More than half of the 442 Russian soldiers who died last year committed suicide, Russia’s defense ministry announced.
A total of 224 soldiers took their lives in 2007 in a military regularly denounced for its abuses, according to official statistics.
Another 126 soldiers died in accidents, not including 41 who died in road accidents. Some 15 were victims of hazing (humiliating and abusive initiations) the government said – although Russian nongovernmental organisations put the figure in the hundreds.
In addition, 23 soldiers were victims of “accidental murder” and 13 died after mishandling their weapons, the ministry said.
On Thursday, Russian human rights campaigners denounced what they claimed was forced conscription into the army, citing cases in which some cadets were strong-armed into signing new contracts extending their service after being physically abused.
The grouping of nongovernmental human rights organisations has written to President Vladimir Putin to complain of the army’s “arbitrary nature” and “massive persecutions” against its soldiers.
Moscow has halved military conscription from two years to one as of 2008, but is having difficulty realising its goal to increase the number of professional soldiers in the army.
Source : The Herald Sun
By: J Boyle - 28th January 2008 at 15:35
As someone who lost a very special person in my life to suicide, I know how tragic it is.
There are always a lot of issues at work…not just low pay or bad food or a lousy work environment.
I would hope that we don’t try to turn this into a political statement of some sort.
By: cal900 - 27th January 2008 at 22:26
How many people in the Russian and US army?
By: Distiller - 27th January 2008 at 09:30
Google, your friend.
Somewhat over 100 suicides in the U.S. Army in 2007.
Perspective: Around 100 people die each day on Russian roads, the number for the U.S. is 115.
And the Soviet/Russian numbers are not trustworthy.
By: ATFS_Crash - 27th January 2008 at 05:41
More than half of the 442 Russian soldiers who died last year committed suicide, Russia’s defense ministry announced.
A total of 224 soldiers took their lives in 2007 in a military regularly denounced for its abuses, according to official statistics.
Another 126 soldiers died in accidents, not including 41 who died in road accidents. Some 15 were victims of hazing (humiliating and abusive initiations) the government said – although Russian nongovernmental organisations put the figure in the hundreds.
In addition, 23 soldiers were victims of “accidental murder” and 13 died after mishandling their weapons, the ministry said.
On Thursday, Russian human rights campaigners denounced what they claimed was forced conscription into the army, citing cases in which some cadets were strong-armed into signing new contracts extending their service after being physically abused.
The grouping of nongovernmental human rights organisations has written to President Vladimir Putin to complain of the army’s “arbitrary nature” and “massive persecutions” against its soldiers.
Moscow has halved military conscription from two years to one as of 2008, but is having difficulty realising its goal to increase the number of professional soldiers in the army.
Source : The Herald Sun
How about some perspective?
Is this much higher than usual? Are the number of suicides up comparable from from other years? What are the annual number of suicides in the Soviet Union for the past few decades? How does it compare to before the fall of the Soviet union?
How does the suicide rate compare to the US military?
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January 27, 2008 at 2:00 am