Attackers opened fire on a group of recruits for the war in Ukraine at a training ground in the Russian border region of Belgorod. At least 11 people die and 15 others are injured. According to Russian authorities, the shooters come from a former Soviet republic.
According to Russian sources, at least 11 volunteers fighting in Ukraine were killed and 15 others injured in an attack on a military base near the border with Ukraine. “Two citizens of a CIS country” carried out “a terrorist attack” on the training ground in the Belgorod region on Saturday, the Defense Ministry said in Moscow.
The perpetrators opened fire on the unit with automatic weapons during target practice by “volunteers for special military operations” in Ukraine, it said. The “terrorists” were shot. The Ministry did not provide any further information on the identity of the attackers. The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is an association of former Soviet republics.
Four weeks ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a partial mobilization of reservists after setbacks by the Russian army in Ukraine. According to government information, more than 200,000 people have been drafted since then, and the planned number of 300,000 should be reached in around two weeks. After the partial mobilization was announced, there had been protests and attacks on recruitment offices. Thousands of Russians also fled abroad to avoid confiscation.
In the Belgorod border region, the situation has been tense for days. The authorities report Ukrainian attacks almost every day. According to the governor, a fuel depot near the regional capital of the same name, Belgorod, was shot at on Saturday. On Friday, after an attack on a power plant, the power went out at times. The Russian secret service FSB reported on Wednesday that eight suspects had been arrested after a bomb attack on the bridge to the Crimean peninsula annexed to Ukraine by Russia, and at the same time said it had foiled two planned Ukrainian attacks.
Violent incidents are common in Russian barracks. The background is brutal harassment of low-ranking soldiers. Degrading admission rituals and abuse are often the triggers for suicide or acts of violence. In November 2020, a young conscript killed an officer with a hatchet and shot dead two other military personnel at an air base in Voronezh. In October 2019, a 19-year-old shot dead eight comrades and two officers while on guard duty at a base in Siberia. He later wrote in a letter that he had experienced “hell” due to regular harassment in the army.
