The interior ministry soldiers, with an average age of 19, left their post in small groups late Tuesday, and were believed to have fled until they showed up at the prosecutors' office, media said.

"They told of beatings by fellow servicemen," an official in the military prosecutors' office told ITAR-TASS news agency, adding that the soldiers "demonstrated signs of beatings."

Prosecutors have opened an investigation into the allegations, ITAR-TASS said.

Desertions, suicides and killings are frequent in the 1.1-million-strong Russian federal armed forces, where conditions are harsh and recruits are often subjected to bullying and violence.

SPACE.WIRE