According to the Russian Defense Ministry, at least 11 Russian soldiers were killed and 15 wounded in a shootout at a military base near Belgorod. Independent Russian media write of up to 22 dead.
The perpetrators opened fire on the unit with automatic weapons during shooting training with “volunteers for military special operations” in Ukraine, the statement said.
The ministry spoke of a terrorist attack. Two citizens of a CIS country are responsible for it. They had been killed. The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a loose association of former Soviet states.
Violent clashes from Russian military bases have already been reported in the past few days. Recruits and long-serving soldiers were involved.
At the front, too, recruits are said to have turned against longer-serving soldiers and commanders and vice versa.
In this case, religious differences may have played a role, according to Russian-language social networks. (tsp)