Russian Troops Dying Amid Cruelty Claims

An estimated 3,000 Russian soldiers die every year despite the fact the country is not at war.

The shocking figure comes from a mothers' rights charity in Moscow.
Olga and Anatoly Kolychev visit their son Ivan's grave every day.
Flowers and other effects are their attempt at honouring his memory which they feel has been trampled on.
At their home in Siberia, they showed Sky News a video of their son in uniform - smiling as he kisses his girlfriend while on leave.
Ivan served in the army for 18 months. His parents described him as a happy and open young man who was at first proud to be a soldier.
But then, the cruelty began.
Ivan told his mother that he and his fellow soldiers had to eat stray dogs to stay alive. Their senior officers were starving and beating them.
She said: "An officer called us late at night and said - your son got bored with his life and hanged himself. They said come and pick him up.
"Why did they tell me this on the phone? It seemed like they were teasing us."
Mrs Kolychev said her son would never have taken his own life.
She showed Sky News a certificate proclaiming his excellent service - which was contradicted after his death by officers who said he was a bad soldier.
The mother said: "There is no order in the army. Commanders don't fulfil their duty.
"Every time I saw my son's unit commander he was drunk. Even when they handed out my son's coffin, the commander was drunk."
Sky News obtained a video filmed by soldiers showing the sort of brutality that goes on.
It shows one officer going down a line of young men who are each braced for a punch or kick. They are resigned to it.
It is accepted as the norm by many of those who serve - but the consequences lead to an alarming number of bereaved families.
The Mothers' Right Foundation in Moscow fights for families like Ivan's - if not to disprove spurious suicide claims, then at least to allow some form of compensation.
Its founder, Veronika Marchenko, said: "One reason for the high number of deaths is that the whole system of military service is ancient - another is that there is no proper investigation into deaths and other crimes."
Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev says the modernisation of the Russian army is vital - he plans to fully re-equip the armed forces with modern military hardware within the next 10 years.
The focus does seem to be more on weapons than the treatment of the people who serve.
Some 280,000 soldiers are in the process of being conscripted right now. For these young men, a life of humiliation and brutality seems almost inevitable.