A group of inebriated soldiers in an armored vehicle reportedly caused a massive car accident that claimed two lives in Rostov-on-Don over the weekend.
The accident occurred early Sunday morning, after the group of military men refused to comply as police tried to pull them over for a traffic stop, according to online news portal 161.ru, which cited witness testimony and published photographs.
The ensuing 4 1/2-kilometer chase saw at least 10 vehicles damaged by the armored car, which ran several red lights and drove without its headlights on, preventing other drivers from seeing it in time to swerve out of the way, according to witnesses cited in the report.
Two young men, identified by 161.ru as 24-year-old Radmir Ramazanov and 24-year-old Dmitry Belikov, were killed after the soldiers' armored vehicle plowed into their KIA Rio.
The armored vehicle continued even after this collision, driving into several other parked cars before finally slamming into a tree and coming to a stop.
The men inside the vehicle fled, but police managed to capture three of them: two soldiers and one civilian. Three other passengers outran the authorities, the report said.
The detained men, reportedly serving in the GRU's special forces unit near the Russia-Ukraine border, were found to be extremely intoxicated. They willingly told police all the details of the wild night out that led to the accident, according to 161.ru.
They said they had left their military base in the armored vehicle and drove to Rostov, where they picked up prostitutes at a local sauna before heading to a market and drinking with the locals there, the report said. No official statement on the incident has been released by police.
