Ten contract soldiers and former prisoners escaped from a military training ground near Rostov.  

The escape took place on the night of May 8-9, but it only became known now. On the morning of May 9, the fugitives  didn't come to the unit for issue of uniforms. 

The escaped contract soldiers were serving sentences for serious crimes: murder, robbery, drug trafficking, rape, and battery. All of them had signed contracts in the penal colony and gathered go to "SVO". 

Four were detained almost immediately upon leaving the Rostov region. Military police are searching for the others. The whereabouts of two others are known, and arrests are being prepared. 

The fugitives were reported to have no weapons.