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POLICE HAVE APPREHENDED an army deserter who hid in a forest in eastern Russia for more than a decade and kept his whereabouts secret from even his family, regional authorities said today.
The 30-year-old man, whose identity was not made public, was drafted into the military in 2003 and was stationed in the remote Kamchatka peninsula for one year before fleeing the army’s ranks, police said.
“He lived in Kamchatka all this time, mainly hiding in the forest,” the regional branch of the interior ministry said in a statement. “He got by with odd jobs and did not attempt to get in touch with his family.”
The search for the deserter, who hails from the southern Russian city of Taganrog, was stopped when his family erroneously identified a dead body as that of their missing relative a few months after his disappearance, the statement said.
TASS news agency reported that the deserter’s family had even buried that body thinking it belonged to their missing loved one.
The soldier would have deserted because of “family problems”, TASS quoted regional authorities as saying.
The deserter reportedly had built himself a home out of old construction materials on the outskirts of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, and made a living by working on a private pig farm and collecting scrap, among other odd jobs.
Soldiers found guilty of desertion can face up to seven years in prison under Russian law. In 2003, mandatory military service lasted two years, a duration which has since been reduced to a year.
Valentina Melnikova, the head of Russia’s Committee of Soldiers’ Mothers, told AFP she doubted the soldier would receive prison time for his offence.
“There were lots of deserters in those days in the Far East. We’ve had cases when some would hide in a basement for years, but they would go through a psychiatric examination and would be set free,” she said.
The Chief Military Prosecutor’s office did not reply to a request for comment.
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Why are you warning “people” to cook meat correctly – warn the cooks/chefs in our hospitality industry.
@John Flood: John, there lies the problem. People want to cater at home and get their supplies from Catering Companies but unfortunately home appliances are sometimes not up to the job of cooking for large amounts of people. How many people test the temperature of food at home before serving it ?
@John Flood: Cooks & chefs are “people” too. Most people cook at home. Home isn’t exempt from this.
@John Flood: I suppose some is cooked at home…
@John Flood: never happen on the south side lol.
Some heads will need to roll after this.
I never got the “rare” cooked meat or steak tartare thing myself. Aside from bacterial contamination undercooked meat may carry parasitic eggs which will not be killed if the temperature is insufficient.
@Permo Dermo: Depends on what you’re cooking. Steak (assuming its fresh and from a reputable source) only needs to have the areas that have been exposed to the air cooked as it doesn’t tend to carry parasites or harmful bacteria, unlike chicken or pork. Tartar (or rare hamburgers) are risky, but even a blue steak is very unlikely to cause harm
Obviously no HAACP paperwork done.
@RJ.Fallon: you’ll find it’s done alright, with the same copy and paste job as yesterday. It is at best negligent and at worst criminal to have done this. Beyond scandalous. At least the names of those involved are out so we can
A V O I D.
@: Agreed,I should have said,if HAASP is used by conscientious staff, committed to their work. And hopefully,most are. Plus ,I know that Food Safety inspectors are ruthless in their checking of these records.
@: so if you buy a chicken in Tesco and under cook it and give your family salmonella, do you name and shame Tesco ?
I love chicken curry
@paul kelly: I’m glad for that..
@paul kelly: I like turtles.
Just getting over a bad dose of food poisoning from chicken goujons I had yesterday. Bought frozen, cooked for 45 mins in the oven, puking my ring for 12 hours shortly after in between the sweats and the chills. Horrendous.
@Jimmy Ireland: Get well soon. I once had food poisoning for months, a rare bug that 99% of people wouldn’t be bothered by. That was a nightmare, all I could think of was food but I couldn’t eat any. Ended up in hospital on a drip and a few days later eventually managed to eat half a piece of toast. Nothing had ever tasted so great. It was one of the best meals ever! I’ll never take buttered toast for granted again.
Was the chicken in this case cooked by the caterers and then reheated at the communion parties? Presumably it was and it would then fully have been the catering company at fault.
Any catering company selling chicken resulting in a salmonella outbreak should be shut down permanently
@@UK: I don’t know about that. People do leave food out for hours in warm weather. There’s food poisoning every summer. Maybe they needed a spare fridge for the day?
I had a bout of Salmonella that I picked up after travelling in Vietnam. Got it on my last day there. After all those weeks of eating local street food etc, it was the bloody western style cafe that I went to on the last day there… Thankfully the worst didn’t kick in until i got back to Ireland. It was awful. Wouldn’t wish it on anyone!
Why don’t they ever say the pains in your stomach will be terrible as well. They never say this.
@Rockhopper617: I don’t think other people want to hear all the gory details, that’s why. Also, if it goes on for long enough, your potassium levels plunge and your shins feel as if they’re about to snap when you walk. Seriously, once you’re better, I think the last thing you want is to dwell on how sick you were, you’re just delighted to feel human again, without putting other people off their food.
have your say