The State Statistics Service of Russia has sparked controversy by omitting data on deaths attributed to “external causes” in its latest annual report, as revealed by the Meduza media outlet citing demography expert Alexey Raksha.
Traditionally, Russia has reported deaths caused by illnesses separately from those due to external factors such as murder and suicide. This omission has raised concerns among experts who seek to gauge the true toll of Moscow’s military intervention in Ukraine, a figure the Kremlin has not disclosed.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin recently stated that at least 350,000 Russian soldiers have been either killed or wounded during the ongoing 29-month conflict. Meanwhile, independent news sources have verified the deaths of approximately 58,000 Russian servicemen through various means including obituaries, wills, and reports on social media.
