15:41, 20 April 2004

600 Russian soldiers said missing in Chechnya

"578 servicemen of the defense ministry and other security agencies of the country went missing on the territory of Chechnya from 1994 till 1 April 2004," reported Maria Fedulova, a member of the Presidential Commission on War Prisoners, Interned Persons, and the Missing and member of the coordinating council of the Union of Russian Committees of Soldier's Mothers. 298 servicemen went missing during the first armed conflict in Chechnya, and 244 did during the so called counter-terrorist operation in the North Caucasus, according to her. "36 privates and sergeants serving for a fixed period went missing in Chechnya in the period between these two wars, i.e. from 1997 to 1999," Ms Fedulova added.

Source: Interfax News Agency