The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Moscow

More than half of the 442 Russian soldiers who died last year committed suicide, Russia's defense ministry announced on its website Saturday.

A total of 224 soldiers took their lives in 2007 in a military regularly denounced for its abuses, according to official statistics.

Another 126 soldiers died in accidents, not including 41 who died in road accidents. Some 15 were victims of hazing, the government said-although Russian nongovernmental organisations put the figure in the hundreds.

In addition, 23 soldiers were victims of "accidental murder" and 13 died after mishandling their weapons, the ministry said.