Collective exodus from Russian prison... "Arrested 2 and tracked down 4"

Six inmates have escaped from prison in western Russia's Lipetsk, AFP reported.

The prison said in a statement that it found an underground tunnel during patrols and determined the number of inmates and confirmed that six inmates from Central Asia had disappeared.

Lipetsk Governor Igor Artamonov said he had launched a pursuit of fugitives and arrested two of them in the nearby Tambov region.

"Right now, all security forces are tracking the rest of the fugitives," the governor said, adding, "It is understandable that news of the exodus causes unrest, but we should not panic."

"The Ukrainian military will not miss the opportunity to exploit the situation," he said, warning that "there could be a lot of fake news."The region of

Lipetsk is about 300 km south of the capital Moscow.

Russia had the highest number of prison inmates in the world last year, with more than 400,000 people, but the number gradually declined due to the transfer to the war in Ukraine.