Live grenade removed from soldier

Russian soldiers fighting in Chechnya

MOSCOW, Russia (Reuters) -- Russian doctors have operated to remove a live grenade from the leg of a soldier wounded in Chechnya, the armed forces newspaper has reported.

Doctors and nurses performed the surgery clad in body armour and helmets, and draped flak jackets over the patient, who was hit by a grenade-launcher round in a battle near the southern Chechen town of Urus Martan.

The grenade did not explode, but was trapped, still live, in his right leg near the knee, according to accounts in the military's official newspaper, Krasnaya Zvezda (Red Star).

"Military doctors had to de-mine Junior Sergeant Andrian Chebodayev," the paper said.

The operation was carried out in an open field rather than inside a hospital, so that if the grenade blew up it would be less dangerous for the medical staff.

"We worked ... in silence, understanding each other perfectly," surgeon Yuri Sikorsky told the newspaper.

"The de-mining experts warned us the grenade still had one live capsule, which could explode. Physically, the work was not difficult, but the moral responsibility was 100 times greater. We really wanted to save the guy."

The surgeons removed the grenade and put it in a metal box for de-mining experts to defuse, the paper said.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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