In Five Non-Russian Republics, As Many as 70 Percent of Deaths among Young Men Last Year were from Combat in Ukraine, Analysis of Rosstat Data Shows

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Oct. 13 – Despite the fact that Rosstat has now stopped publishing data on military losses, what data the state statistical agency has released indicates that combat in Ukraine became the chief cause of death among young Russian men last year and that in some federal subjects it was overwhelmingly so.

            According to the Important Stories portal, in five republics – Buryatia, North Ossetia, Daghestan, Mordvinia, and Mari El – and two oblast – Rostov and Orenburg – up to 70 percent of deaths among young men were the result of participation in Vladimir Putin’s expanded invasion of Ukraine (istories.media/news/2023/10/13/kazhdii-vtoroi-molodoi-muzhchina-umershii-v-2022-godu-ot-vneshnikh-prichin-pogib-na-voine-v-ukraine-sleduet-iz-dannikh-rosstata/).

            This pattern both reflects the Kremlin’s strategy of using poorer non-Russians as cannon fodder in this conflict and the growing outrage among many non-Russians about the consequences of what Moscow is doing.