Ramil Shamsutdinov fired and shot eight of his comrades after being punished by the officer by pressing his head into the toilet, according to an unnamed source.

"Private Shamsutdinov refused to clean the floor at the request of the company commander, prompting the commanding officer to impose sanctions. The teammates pressed Shamsutdinov into the toilet just before he was sent to guard," the source said. Anonymous in Russia's Gorny, Siberian police yesterday revealed.

When on guard at a military base in Chita region, eastern Siberia, Shamsutdinov took his gun and began to take revenge. The first person to be shot dead was the company commander who ordered him to be punished, then the soldiers who participated in humiliating the soldier.

Private Shamsutdinov surrendered to the military police shortly afterwards and insisted he did not regret his actions, the source added.

The shooting happened on October 25, killing eight soldiers and injuring two. The Russian Ministry of Defense initially attributed the incident to the "psychological collapse of the personal situation" of the gunman.

The situation of "old ghost bullying new ghosts" has been a serious problem of the Russian army since the 1990s but this has improved significantly in recent years.