The sole suspect was Pvt. Ramil Salengalovich Shamsutdinov (born 1999), a resident of the
Vagay village,
Tyumen Oblast, and son of a retired military commander. The Chita
military court arrested Ramil Shamsutdinov.
Motive The Russian Ministry of Defence attributed the events to Shamsutdinov suffering a
nervous breakdown. However, Shamsutdinov's father alleges that
severe, ritualized abuse of new recruits at the hands of officers and older soldiers drove his son to carry out the shooting, saying that his son had told him "I’m sorry father, I couldn’t have done otherwise. Either they’d kill me or I’d kill them," and that Ramil did not regret his “deliberate” actions. Shamsutdinov testified that he faced physical abuse and threats of rape.
Sentencing In January 2021, Shamsutdinov was sentenced to 24½ years in prison. At the time of his sentencing, the Defence ministry had accepted that he was subjected to hazing prior to the shooting. Some victims' families criticized the sentence, arguing that it is too short. == See also ==