Free Republic

Gorny, 93 miles north of the border with Mongolia. Two of those killed were officers and the others were enlisted men. The two wounded soldiers reportedly were in serious condition. Russia’s Investigative Committee said it had opened a murder case against the suspect, whom it identified as 20-year-old Ramil Shamsutdinov. The Defense Ministry said the soldier apparently opened fire in a “nervous breakdown over personal problems unrelated to his military duties.”

RUSSIA has reportedly destroyed about 50 tonnes of chemical weapons in the first month of operations at a new facility built to help eliminate the country's huge arsenal. The facility in Gorny, about 700km south-east of Moscow, expected to dispose of 400 tonnes by April, former Prime Minister Sergei Kiriyenko told the ITAR-Tass news agency. Kiriyenko, who now serves as chairman of the State Commission on Chemical Disarmament, said that the facility has been working non-stop since opening. Russia has budgeted $US174 million ($297 million) for destroying chemical weapons in 2003, about the same as 2002 and far less than...