KYZYL, Russia -- The head of Russia's Siberian region of Tyva is demanding the Defense Ministry relocate a military test field away from an area close to a village after a teenager was seriously injured in an explosion.
Sholban Kara-Ool said at a regional government session on April 29 that the explosion took place two days before, when three teenagers, whose identities and ages were not disclosed, found a military explosive device in the village of Kara-Khaak near the regional capital, Kyzyl.
Tyvan Health Minister Orlan Dongak said at the session that the boy remains hospitalized with serious facial and eye injuries but his life is not at risk. The two other boys with him were uninjured.
The military test site abuts the village and local residents and shepherds have protested it being too close to their homes and pastures since its first portion was built in 2017.
Tyva is a remote republic of some 308,000 people on the Russian-Mongolian border.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu is a native of Tyva.