A Minimum of 2500 Russian Soldiers from East of the Urals have Died in Putin’s War So Far, MediaZone and the BBC Report

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Jan. 3 – Between February 24 and December 26, analysts from MediaZone and the Russian Service of the BBC have confirmed that 10,711 Russian soldiers have died fighting in Ukraine. Of these, a minimum of 2500 have come from predominantly ethnic Russian oblasts and krays and non-Russian republics east of the Urals – nearly one in four of the total.

            Much has been made of the high death rates among soldiers from non-Russian republics, but these figures show that there is an important regional dimension to what is going on and that Moscow relies heavily on impoverished areas distant from the major metropolises in the center of the country (sibreal.org/a/casualties-january/32205248.html).

            Non-Russians have already reacted to the fact that their fathers, sons, and husbands are more likely to die in Putin’s war than are Russians and have in some cases protested. If Russians in the regions draw similar conclusions and take similar actions, that could lead to a dramatic increase in protests against the war.

            The full MediaZone report, available at zona.media/casualties, constitutes a treasure trove of data, including confirmed death figures in all the federal subjects of the Russian Federation, statistics on deaths among various age cohorts, and deaths by week over the course of the war so far, including more than 400 in the last two weeks before December 26.