Russia alarmed by rash of teenage suicides

MOSCOW-The Associated Press

Archival AP photo

A rash of teenage suicides in Russia has set off alarm bells and experts are urging the government to take immediate action.

Russia has the world's third-highest rate of suicide among teenagers aged 15 to 19, with about 1,500 taking their own lives every year, according to UNICEF. The rate is higher only in the neighboring former Soviet republics of Belarus and Kazakhstan.

Boris Polozhy of the Serbsky psychiatric center in Moscow said Friday that "until the highest authorities see suicide as a problem, our joint efforts will be unlikely to yield any results." Two 14-year-old girls in a town outside Moscow killed themselves this week by jumping off of the roof of a 14-story building while holding hands. Several other teen suicides have been reported elsewhere in Russia.