The prosecutor's office of the Russian Federal Border Service yesterday opened a criminal case into the desertion and murder of two residents of the Republic of Tuva by private Dmitry Ivanov. A soldier armed with an AK-74 from one of the outposts of the Kyzyl border detachment deserted on Wednesday night while patrolling the state border. In one of the pastures, a border guard burst into a yurt and shot a shepherd and his wife who were there with a machine gun. Having stolen their Niva car, the deserter tried to escape the immediately organized chase into the territory of Mongolia, but a search group, personally led by the head of the Kyzyl border detachment, Colonel Daud Saidov, blocked the soldier in the area of the Kyzyl-Abakan highway. The colonel suggested that Dmitry Ivanov surrender, and then the border guard shot himself with a machine gun. The reasons for Ivanov’s escape are not yet known. To investigate the emergency, a special commission from the headquarters of the Federal Border Guard Service of Russia flew to the site yesterday.
