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Commander of army unit hit by massive pneumonia fired

The commander of a Russian military unit where over 40 recruits fell ill with pneumonia in September because of bad living conditions in the barracks was fired

MOSCOW, October 7 (Itar-Tass) —— The commander of a Russian military unit where over 40 recruits fell ill with pneumonia in September because of bad living conditions in the barracks was fired after the defense minister described the situation as “outrageous negligence and slovenliness.”

The military prosecutor of the Western military district said on Thursday there was no central heating in the barracks and no sufficient medicines in the first-aid post of the unit in Ostrogozhsk in Voronezh region. The soldiers had no place to dry up their uniform and went on duty in wet clothes.

“The major fault of the command was poor organization of everyday life which along with untimely and low-quality medical help promoted a fast spread of the virus infection among the personnel,” it said.

The defense ministry said in its turn that “despite cold weather the command of the military unit took no measures to maintain the necessary temperature regime in the barracks. Some barracks had no hot water supplies and no heating in premises intended for drying up the uniform. Although funds to buy medicines were timely provided the number of available medicines did not correspond to the required norm.”

The commander of the Western military district, Colonel-General Arkady Bakhin fired the commander of the unit in Ostrogozhsk and the head of the first-aid post.