KAZAN, December 25. /TASS/. The Russian Interior Ministry in the Tatarstan Region has dismissed three police officers following a probe into an exercise involving teens, while another five officers have been reprimanded for incompetence, the ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

"Following the probe, a decision was made to dismiss… Senior Operations Officer at the Russian Interior Ministry’s Tukayevsky District Department Rustem Latypov... Acting Deputy Chief of the Interior Ministry’s Tukayevsky District Department Ilnaz Baiduanov… and Chief of the Interior Ministry’s Tukayevsky District Department Marat Vagapov," the statement reads.

According to the ministry, Latypov was sacked "for making an unreasonable decision to change the location of a battle drill exercise, engaging underage children and putting their lives and health in danger." Baiduganov was dismissed "for failing to ensure appropriate control over the organization and execution of the drill, and for providing the Interior Ministry in the Tatarstan Region with misleading information about the circumstances of the incident," and Vagapov was fired for backing out of supervising the drill. Another five police officers have been disciplined for incompetent performance.

According to the regional branch of the Russian Interior Ministry, on December 20, "a battle drill exercise" took place on the grounds of the Novotroitskaya High School "at the initiative of the ministry’s branch in the Tukayevsky District, which involved branch personnel, while ninth-graders were engaged in coordination with the school’s administration." Since civilian participation had not been agreed on with the regional Interior Ministry in the prescribed manner, the ministry launched a probe.

On December 24, Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev handed down a tough response to the exercise that involved teenagers, disciplining regional Interior Minister Police Lieutenant General Artem Khokhorin for his incompetent performance and sacking the exercise’s actual organizers.