A criminal case was opened Thursday against a soldier blamed in the accidental death of an officer during a grenade training exercise, the Investigative Committee said in a statement Thursday.
During a training exercise in the Amur region, conscript Maxim Zhuravlev threw a live grenade at a target, but the explosive rebounded on the edge of the earthen shelter designed to give cover for snipers. Major Sergei Solnechnikov pushed Zhuravlev out of the way and covered the grenade with his body. He suffered fatal injuries from the subsequent explosion and died Wednesday.
Zhuravlev could face charges of mishandling dangerous objects resulting in death due to negligence, which carries a sentence of up to five years in prison.
In a separate incident in the Kaliningrad region Thursday, five people were injured in a grenade explosion, Rosbalt.ru reported. An 18-year old man approached a group of young people and asked if they would like to see something "cool," then dropped a live grenade on the ground. A dog, mistaking the grenade for a toy, approached it and perished in the blast, shielding the youths from more serious injury.
