A conscript cost the Russian army a £365,000 lunch bill after he lit a fire to cook his meal - causing his BTR-82 armoured infantry vehicle to go up in flames.

Shamed soldier Semen Merezhnikov was immediately given a foul-mouthed dressing down by his furious officer.

The shellshocked conscript blurted that he had been trying to cook his canned food rations by making a fire while stationed in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula annexed by Vladimir Putin from Ukraine in 2014.

The video caught his stuttering explanation as he clutched his burning hand-held grenade launcher which also caught fire when his lunch ignited into an inferno of flames and black smoke destroying the armoured vehicle.

Semen Merezhnikov was given a foul-mouthed dressing down by his furious officer after he lit a fire to cook his meal - causing his BTR-82 armoured infantry vehicle to go up in flames

His incandescent officer - off camera - unleashes an expletive-laden tirade: 'Look at me now, wh***! How did it happen, wh***. Speak!'

The red-faced soldier explained he had made a camp fire: 'I wanted to warm up my meal, I dug the ground around it…'

His incredulous officer stormed: 'Where did you want to warm it? What did you dig? What? Where?'

The infantryman answered: 'I dug ground around a small area, and set a small fire…'

The video caught his stuttering explanation as he clutched his burning grenade launcher

The shellshocked conscript had been trying to cook his canned food rations by making a fire while stationed in Crimea

'Did you really? And where is your machine gun?'

'Here is my machine gun.'

The camera shows it lying on the grass next to him.

'Put out the fire on your grenade gun, you wh***! Pee on it, f*** you!'

The grenade launcher also caught fire when his lunch ignited into an inferno of flames and black smoke destroying the armoured vehicle

The extraordinary episode occurred in May last year, but footage has only now emerged

The extraordinary episode was in May, but footage has only now emerged.

A witness said that the BTR-82 was covered in camouflage netting and dry grass, which is why is caught fire so easily.

Merezhnikov was sent to a 'penal army detachment' for a six months sentence as 'punishment' for his carelessness.

The soldier was not made to repay the cost of the military hardware, reported life.ru.