Putin to keep close eye on investigation of tragedy at Omsk military training center

MOSCOW, July 15 /TASS/. A court in the city of Omsk, Russia’s Siberia, has issued a warrant to arrest Oleg Ponomarev, the head of the 242nd airborne training center based in Omsk. He is suspected of negligence that led to the collapse of an army barrack in the center’s territory late last Sunday, July 12.

Vladimir Markin, the official spokesman for the Russian Investigation Committee, said on Wednesday that Ponomarev had been taken into custody.

"Ponomarev partly admitted his guilt when he was earlier questioned as a suspect. He said he had allowed placing the servicemen in the barrack," Markin told TASS.

Investigators continue searching for other persons linked to the Omsk tragedy.

"At present, active investigative activities have been launched to establish the degree of complicity of all suspects in this case to the committed crime as well as all its circumstances and other persons who could be related to the incident," Markin said.