Russia

The lists of Russias war dead may be hundreds and thousands of names long but some casualties stand out to the journalists who painstakingly compile them.Olga Ivshina, a senior reporter at the BBC Russian Service, can instantly recall Mikhail Shuvalov, a retired power plant worker who volunteered to fight in Ukraine at the age of 71.
David Frenkel, a data reporter for the independent Russian news outlet Mediazona, remembers Alexander Zhmur, a 19-year-old paratrooper who met the grim fate foreshadowed by his last name, Russian slang for corpse.For Elena Trifonova, co-founder and editor of Siberian news website Lyudi Baikala, tallying the local men killed early in the conflict swiftly became a blur.
Nearly every soldier from Russia's Far Eastern regions of Irkutsk and Buryatia had the same obituary: he graduated high school, joined the army and died in Ukraine.With the Russian government seldom disclosing the death toll from its war in Ukraine, independent journalists have spent the past year identifying, verifying and counting the fallen themselves.
The endeavor has become so mammoth that Mediazona, one of the news outlets behind the initiative, issued a call earlier this month for more volunteers.Its not happy work, but somebody has to do it.
We want to show the public that even for patriotic Russia, for pro-Putin Russia, war has a cost and that cost is Russian soldiers, Frenkel said.A nationwide database jointly maintained by Mediazona and the BBCs Russian service has confirmed over 15,000 fatalities since launching last spring, though Frenkel estimates the true number to be at least twice as large.Lyudi Baikala has verified nearly 750 deaths from the area of Siberia it covers, most of them from the heavily mobilized republic of Buryatia.
Pskovskaya Guberniya, a local newspaper in Russias western Pskov region, has tallied the local death count to number 142.The Russian Defense Ministry last released an official death toll 5,937 troops in September.
Western officials believe at least 200,000 Russians have been killed or wounded in Ukraine in the past year.Svetlana Avanesova, an editor at Pskovskaya Guberniya, said the publications small staff tries to monitor deaths every day, combing through increasingly rare announcements by the regional governor and social media posts from grieving relatives.In some cases, reporters have discovered or confirmed casualties through fundraisers for surviving family members and the renaming of local streets to honor fallen soldiers, Avanesova said.The newspaper initially set out to gauge the scale of the lies told by the authorities as they sought to minimize the death count, she said, but obtaining information has become increasingly difficult.We are doing this for history, for us to understand and our readers to understand the toll, Avanesova said.
We dont know what kind of history Russia will write but no one else in the Pskov region is doing this or writing about it.Ivshina also kept Russias historical obfuscation of war fatalities in mind when she began tracking casualties for the BBC Russian service in March.A wooden coffin is placed into a hearse.Roman Yarovitcyn / AP / TASSThere is still no definitive count of exactly how many perished in World War II, the Soviet-Afghan War, or Russias military campaigns in Chechnya, she said.
Government-reported losses in the First Chechen War, for example, were less than half the figure calculated by human rights groups, she said.For this war, we can at least have a figure that's not an estimate, that's 100% verified, Ivshina said.Russias efforts to downplay its human losses in Ukraine have grown more pronounced as the fighting drags into its second year, Ivshina said.Deaths that were once announced by regional governors and state news agencies are now left largely to local media outlets and low-level village officials, schools, community organizations, and even libraries, she said.Ivshina spends a lot of time sifting through information gleaned from about 70 cemeteries across the country.
Grave sites typically show that for every publicly named soldier buried in Russia, another is laid to rest quietly, their name absent from any open sources, she said.During the first six months of the war, headstones would display a photo of the soldier in uniform but that practice has stopped, Ivshina said.Documenting losses has also revealed other trends.
For example, the high rate of officers killed at the start of Russia's full-scale invasion meant there were insufficient resources to properly train new recruits fueling higher casualties later in the war.Mediazona does not publish the names of troops killed in Ukraine but Russians are able to search for their loved ones through a Telegram bot created by volunteers, said Frenkel.Anti-war volunteers also work inside Russia, roaming cemeteries to take photos of fresh graves.
Their names are kept hidden, from each other and the outlets staff, due to the legal dangers inherent for anyone gathering data about the Russian military, he said.Frenkel, the technical lead for the project, creates visualizations from their contributions and is trying to find ways to automate the process of finding and verifying deaths.We understand that its not possible to manually continue this work for years, Frenkel said.We are not going to stop.
But rationally, I understand that at some point, probably even if the war is not ended, it might just be extremely hard for team members to keep working on the same thing.Many of the project's volunteers are upset by the work, he said.
Frenkel also finds his role mentally taxing if only to a point.Its sad to scroll through a lot of dead faces but its much more depressing to read about Bucha, for example, or about the people who died in Mariupol, he said.
Its incomparable to the atrocities committed by Russian troops in Ukraine.One journalist manually updates the list maintained by Lyudi Baikala, according to editor Trifonova.
For her too, its traumatic, she said.Morally, its very difficult, Trifonova said.
You cannot get used to this.The list has been growing fast in recent months, with the publications staff confirming about 40 deaths per week compared to around 20 at the beginning of the war.The numbers seem to rise and fall in tandem with Russian offensives, Trifonova said, though the fatalities usually trickle in months later because it takes time for bodies to be repatriated.The enormous toll the war has taken locally at least 544 men from Buryatia and 203 from the Irkutsk region was impossible to imagine when journalists began covering local funerals and compiling a record in April, Trifonova said.The publication doesnt want the authorities to be able to say we dont have large losses, she said.Lyudi Baikala has pledged to continue tracking deaths no matter how long the war lasts or how hard and time-consuming the work becomes, Tirfonova said, adding that she hoped to eventually break through the states powerful propaganda which has convinced so many Russians of the wars legitimacy.Nobody wants the war but many believe this war was necessary, Tirfonova said.Well let them look at the lists of the dead and think about how necessary it was.





Unlimited Portal Access + Monthly Magazine - 12 issues


Contribute US to Start Broadcasting - It's Voluntary!


ADVERTISE


Merchandise (Peace Series)

 


Trump Says He’s ‘Very Unhappy’ With Putin Call, Hints at New Sanctions


Russia Removes Peace Symbol from School Textbook Cover


[Russia] - Head of Moscow Region's Azerbaijani Diaspora Stripped of Russian Citizenship


Russia Adds 14-Year-Olds to ‘Terrorists and Extremists’ List


[Russia] - What Ukraine Is Missing as U.S. Holds Back Air Defense and Battlefield Weapons


[Russia] - Russian Firms Seek North Korean Translators to Support Influx of Workers


[Russia] - Dutch and German Intelligence Say Russia Increasingly Uses Chemical Weapons in Ukraine


[Russia] - Russia Carries Out 8th Prisoner Exchange With Ukraine Since Istanbul Talks


[Russia] - Professionals: Russia Recognizing Taliban Rule in Afghanistan Largely a Symbolic Move


Storm Batters St. Petersburg With High Winds, Rising Water Levels


St. Petersburg Naval Parade Canceled Over Security Concerns – Fontanka


[Russia] - Russian Car Market Expected to Contract by 24% This Year


[Russia] - Transneft Vice President Dies in Apparent Fall From Window, Reports Say


Russia Launches Largest Air Attack Since Invasion as Ukrainian Drone Strike Kills Woman in Rostov


Russia Becomes First Country to Recognize Taliban Government


Chechnya's Dependence on Federal Funding Hits New High


No Way Home: The Exiled Russian Speakers Fighting Their Own War in Syria


[Russia] - Russian Tycoons Earn Record $20 Billion in Dividends Amid Recession Worries


[Russia] - Russians Report Nighttime Police Raids in Azerbaijan as Tensions Flare


Former Kremlin-Backed Mayor of Luhansk Killed in Explosion


Putin Congratulates Trump on U.S. Independence Day During Hourlong Call


[Russia] - Russian-Made Jet Prices Soar as Moscow Struggles to Ditch Boeing and Airbus


Teen Facing Death Threats From Family Disappears in Ingushetia, Rights Group Says


Britain Links Azerbaijani Traders With Rosneft Ties to Russia’s Shadow Fleet


[Russia] - Russian Deputy Navy Commander Killed in Kursk Region


Russia Moves to Nationalize Country’s Third-Largest Gold Mining Firm


Orenburg Mayor Resigns to Continue Military Service in Ukraine


Durov Hints at Anti-Telegram Smear Campaign as Russia Readies Homegrown Competitor


FSB Arrests Woman Who Tried to Place Bomb Under Defense Worker’s SUV


[Russia] - Elderly Woman Killed in Ukrainian Drone Strike on Lipetsk Region


Emergency Contraceptives Disappear from Russian Pharmacies – Vyorstka


[Russia] - Putin Signs Decree Seeking to Lure Foreign Investors Into Russian Stock Market


Khakassia Governor Vetoes Local Government Reform Bill


[Russia] - From Plane Crash to Deadly Arrests: What's Behind the Russia-Azerbaijan Standoff


[Russia] - Kids of Russian Soldiers Increasingly Placed in State Care, Regional Officials Say


Russian Companies See Sharp Rise in Wage Arrears


Putin Praises Kyrgyzstan for ‘Special Status’ of Russian Language


Azerbaijani and Russian Investigators in ‘Constant Contact’ Amid Diplomatic Crisis


Russia’s Natural Gas Exports to Europe Plunge to Historic Lows


Security Forces Raid Russia's Third-Largest Gold Producer Over Environmental, Safety Violations


[Russia] - Kremlin Welcomes Halt in U.S. Arms Shipments to Ukraine


Fatal Car Crash Sparks Anti-Roma Protests in Saratov Region


Foreign Automakers Scale Back New Model Launches in Russia


Anti-War University Student in St. Petersburg Released From Prison


Russia Eyes Industrial Levy to Shield Domestic Producers and Plug Budget Gaps


[Russia] - Yekaterinburg Court Places 6 Azerbaijanis in Pre-Trial Detention Amid Cold-Case Probe


[Russia] - Macron Urges Ukraine Ceasefire in First Call With Putin Since 2022


[Russia] - Taliban Diplomat to Take Role as Moscow Ambassador


Russia’s VTB Reports Increase in Overdue Retail Loans


[Russia] - Kremlin Launches Online Bot Campaign to Defend Steep Utility Rate Increases


[Russia] - Su-34 Crashes During Training Flight in Central Russia


[Russia] - Russia to Disconnect Foreigners Who Have Not Submitted Biometric Data From Mobile Internet


[Russia] - Ex-Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov Sentenced to 13 Years in Prison


Kremlin Dismisses Trump Envoy’s Claim That It Is Stalling Peace Talks


[Russia] - Russian Manufacturing Activity Sees Sharpest Decline Since Early Months of Ukraine Invasion


[Russia] - Azerbaijan Launches Murder Probe After Autopsy Finds Brothers Died From Beatings in Russian Police Custody


[Russia] - Russia's Top Ferroalloy Producer to Cut Workweek Amid Metallurgy Crisis


[Russia] - Russia Now Occupies All of Ukraine's Luhansk Region, Kremlin-Installed Official Says


[Russia] - Ukrainian Drone Attack on Izhevsk Kills 3 and Wounds Dozens More


[Russia] - Ukrainian Drone Attack on Izhevsk Kills and Wounds Multiple People


[Russia] - Kim Jong Un Honors North Korean Soldiers Killed Fighting for Russia


[Russia] - Significant Kuzbass Coal Mine Halts Operations, Leaving Hundreds Without Pay


Financial Insecurity Is Russians' Top Reason Not to Start a Family & Poll


[Russia] - Leading Russian Coal Producer to Receive State Support Amid Deepening Industry Crisis


Mariupol Children Undergo Pro-Russian Indoctrination at St. Petersburg ‘Wellness Camps’


Prosecutors Seek Criminal Charges Against YouTuber Yury Dud Over ‘Foreign Agent’ Law Violations


[Russia] - Sberbank Approves Record $10Bln Dividend Payout


[Russia] - Government Price Caps Put Russia's Breadmakers in Jeopardy, Producer Warns


‘Jesus of Siberia’ Cult Leader Sentenced to 12 Years in Prison


FSB Recruits Ukrainian Teenagers for Espionage and Sabotage – FT


[Russia] - Samara Region Police Open 'Nazi Rehabilitation' Probe After Teenagers Sing Ukrainian Song


Russian Advances Toward Sumy Continue – WSJ


Russia Moves to Limit Exemptions for Military Conscripts


[Russia] - Lavrov Warns West Against Backing 'Color Revolution' in Serbia as Protests Heat Up


[Russia] - Azerbaijan-Russia Rift Deepens After Deaths of Azeri Men in Police Arrests