"The number of grave crimes decreased by 7%, while the number of murders dropped by 18.8%," said Sergei Fridinsky, who is also a deputy prosecutor general.
Violent hazing incidents, which had previously been covered up, became high-profile scandals in the Armed Forces a year ago following a tragedy involving Private Andrei Sychyov, who had both legs and his genitals amputated after being tortured during the New Year holidays at a tank academy in the south Urals city of Chelyabinsk.
But Fridinsky said the consequent clampdown on hazing attacks helped to stabilize the situation and significantly reduce the number of hazing-related deaths.
The Defense Ministry earlier reported that 554 servicemen died in the Russian Armed Forces in 2006, showing a 50% decrease, year-on-year, in the number of service-related deaths. Among those, 210 servicemen committed suicide and 27 died in hazing attacks.
