Russia makes a list of 557 Russian troops killed in the war with Ukraine
Alyona Mazurenko – Monday, 21 March 2022, 16:55
Russian journalists found out about a list of 557 names of Russian troops who lost their lives in the war with Ukraine.
Source: BBC News Russian Service
According to BBC News Russian Service: "Different [administrative] regions of Russia have different attitudes to publishing information about the dead. For example, in Dagestan and North Ossetia, 77 people have been reported dead (in total). Representatives of district administrations attend each funeral in person.
Officials in 15 Russian regions recorded no deaths among the military. However, in one of these regions – the Kemerovo region – it was possible to confirm the burial of 7 Russian soldiers who died in Ukraine."
Details: In some Russian regions, media that initially reported deaths of Russian soldiers are beginning to withdraw or delete those reports. Sometimes this happens a day or two after the report has been published, sometimes within an hour.
A Siberian journalist said: "Regional governments issue an order not to publish information about losses in the special operation. There are instances of pressure [on the relatives of the deceased] by the local administration, telling them not to make noise now and that they will find a way to honour the memory of the deceased later."
At present, the name of only one soldier killed in the war is known in the Russian Federation: Maksim Hanigin, from the village of Ozernoe in the Saratov region, who according to his relatives was a conscript.
The boy’s family received his death notice on 25 February, but they do not know when his body will arrive.
The mother of Pavel Pozanen, another Russian soldier who was killed in Ukraine, told the BBC that her son was conscripted illegally into contract service before being sent to Ukraine.
Relatives and friends of the dead Russian soldiers rarely express their attitudes publicly to what Russia calls a "special operation in Ukraine."
The Russian Ministry of Defence has not reported losses by the Russian army in Ukraine for 18 days. Based on open sources, the media have learned that the names of 557 dead Russian soldiers have been confirmed.
On 2 March – for the first and only time – the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation issued a report about those killed in the war in Ukraine. 498 soldiers were reported dead then. Since then, the Ministry has released no new information about military personnel losses.
Ukrainian defenders have reported the deaths of 15,000 Russian military personnel as of the morning of 21 March.
Russian media compiled a list of Russian soldiers who had been killed, based on reports containing specific information about the deceased – such as their full name and rank. There are 557 people in this list.
But the Russian media did not take into account reports of dozens, and sometimes hundreds, of victims if there was no specific information available, namely the soldiers’ first names and surnames. The deaths of those serving in the military units of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics and the Wagner Group mercenaries have also not been taken into account.