A Russian soldier shot three of his colleagues, seriously injuring them before fleeing his military base.
The shooting is just the latest in a series of deadly incidents in the Russian army, and comes amid reports of thousands of soldiers deserting their units, as moarle and dsicipline continues to collapse.
Alexey Zhuravlev, 29, was serving in a military unit in the Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine.
Reports say he was drinking with his fellow soldiers on the evening of July 11, when a row broke out after they started to insult him.
Zhuravlev warned his comrades to stop, and when they refused he shot them with his machine gun.
He then fled his base and is believed to be trying to make his way to Kozinka, a village just across the border in Ukraine.
The Russian army has launched a massive manhunt for the fugitive, who has been charged with desertion and attempted murder.
He is said to have been wearing a grey T-shirt, black shorts and rubber slippers, as well as a cap with a pixel pattern on it.
Zhuravlev is originally from the Chuvash village of Yuskasy near Cheboksary.
In 2011, he was convicted of robbery and served several years in a Russian penal colony.
On release from prison he moved to Moscow before joining the army as a contract soldier last year.
Putin’s army has struggled to maintain morale among its troops, as it continues to sustain huge casualties on the frontlines.
New analysis by the Economist suggests that over 700,000 Russian soldiers may have been killed in fighting during the course of the war.
Reports have emerged of the brutal treatment of Russian soldiers by their commanders, who have committed large numbers of troops to frontal assaults on heavily fortified Ukrainian positions.
Ukraine’s military intelligence (HUR) said in April that over 18,000 military personnel in Russia’s Southern Military District have abandoned their positions.
Around 12,000 of them are from the 8th Combined Arms Army, while an estimated 2,500 soldiers are from the Russian 58th Combined Arms Army.
Mobilised conscripts made up more than half of those who had deserted, while around 2,000 are contract soldiers.
