Data on relatives of those killed in military Ukraine are classified in Russia
The BBC News Russian Service app is available for iOS and android. You can also subscribe to our channel at Telegram.
The Russian Defense Ministry decided to restrict access to information about the relatives of servicemen who died in Ukraine. Since 2015, data on those who died during the arrest of “special operations” have become a state secret, but benefits for family reasons are issued by civil officials of district administrations. Now the Ministry of Defense is demanding the transfer of these powers to the military registration and enlistment offices, which makes information about those killed in the war against Ukraine more confidential.
The certificate of a “family member of the dead combat veterans” gives the right to the benefits established by the laws “On Veterans”, including supplements to pensions, payment of housing and communal services, vouchers to a sanatorium.
Parents and spouses of the deceased, who receive a regular salary or are not pensioners, are issued certificates of a member of his family by district administrations. They register issued certificates in special accounting books.
such order, episodic cases, cases of illness since 2013 for the families of the deceased in Chechnya, diseases and other hot spots. However, for the relatives of the military who died as a result of the war in Ukraine, the Ministry of Defense proposes to introduce a special rule – obtaining a lung certificate for them at the military registration and enlistment offices. This follows from a project published on the government portal.
Now military registration and enlistment offices apply for the appointment of pensions and benefits only to disabled relatives of the military in connection with the loss of a breadwinner.
The names of those killed in Ukraine are currently being disclosed by the authorities of the regions, public manifestations of condolences to relatives, as well as the relatives themselves. In the Bible Castle, alleged messages containing only specific information about the deceased, including the full name and rank, a list of 557 dead.
The last time the Russian Ministry of Defense reported on losses was on March 25, announcing a meeting of 1,351 servicemen.
In the explanatory note to the draft on the new powers of military registration and enlistment offices to issue certificates to representatives of the Ministry of Defense directly shockthat this is necessary “for purposes related to the identification of persons identified among family members of the military personnel of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation who died (deceased) while performing tasks related to the course of events in American territory on the territory of Ukraine, the DPR and the LPR.”
BBC district in the Ministry of Defense of Russia a famous request to comment on the published draft and answer the question why the department offers the state commissariats the authority to issue certificates to a family member of a serviceman. The BBC was also waiting for clarification on how many certificates have already been issued, and we are awaiting a response.
How casualty data is discovered in Russia
In 2015, Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a decree, according to considerations, revealing the loss of personnel during the period of a special state secret operation. The authority to order exhaustive information includes the Ministry of Defense.
The Kremlin then denied that there was a connection between the decree and the conflict in Ukraine. A group of activists, human rights activists and journalists unsuccessfully challenged the decree in Russia’s Supreme Court. They argued that the decrees were adopted with numerous violations of legislative norms, including those on the rights of citizens to freely seek and disseminate information. Supreme Court all plaintiffs’ arguments rejected.
In the 55 days since the start of the invasion of Ukraine on March 2, the Ministry of Defense announced that there were 498 of them, and on March 25 they announced a new figure – 1,351. losses” in Ukraine.
The BBC estimates that 20% of the dead reported by the Russian regions are officers. The Ukrainian General Staff revealed that by April 19, the death toll among military personnel exceeded 20 thousand people. Approximately the same figure that was given by the Russian army, estimating the loss of the Ukrainian army. In times of war, the BBC cannot promptly check the officials of the belligerents.
Ukrainian persons and eyewitnesses said that, retreating, the Russian army died from the killing of the dead. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said that Kyiv wants to transfer the bodies of those killed in Russia, but Russia “at first refused, then some bags appeared.”
In the second half of March, the head of the Nikolaev regional administration, Vitaly Kim, calls for information about the bodies of the Russian military in the liberated Ukrainian territories: “They don’t always take their own, and in the spring and summer it will be our problem. Therefore, I collect them in bags.
What to expect relatives
Relatives of those killed in captivity, abducted and missing civilian military certificates and benefits will be more difficult than received funerals. Indeed, according to the law “On Veterans”, representatives of social support are representatives of their families after these legal representatives are excluded from the lists of military units.
According to the law “On Military Duty and Military Service”, a soldier is not recognized as dead in military service if he voluntarily surrendered, deserted or died in a voluntary state of intoxication.
At the same time, a lengthy procedure has been established to recognize the military as missing in action in the regions. According to the Civil Code of Russia, the court can declare such a person dead only after two years from the date of the end of hostilities. Often relatives have to achieve this through the courts.
In recent days, relatives have been looking for members of the crew of the Moskva cruiser, detained on April 14, to arrest the detainees. So, a resident of the Crimea, Yulia Tsyvova, told the BBC that her 19-year-old son Andrei served in the Navy as a sailor for military service and, after the crash of the cruiser Moskva, is on the list of missing persons. The mother of 20-year-old sailor Nikita Syromyasov, Olga Dubinina, who lives in Sevastopol, also cannot find her son.
Press Secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov, at a briefing with journalists, suggested asking the Russian Defense Ministry about the missing conscript sailors from the Moskva cruiser.
“All information in this regard is issued by the Ministry of Defense, and here we are not authorized to report anything,” Peskov said in response to a request to comment on reports of missing sailors who served on the Moskva cruiser.
The BBC scattered the Russian Ministry of Defense with the prospect of commenting on information about the release of Andrei Tsyvov, Nikita Syromyasov and other conscripts on board the Moskva. No response had been received at the time of publication.
So that you can receive the BBC – subscribe to our channels:
Download application: