Why is the Kremlin hiding the truth about those killed in the Russian army?
President of Russia Vladimir Putin ordered to cancel the Azovstal assault detachment in the Ukrainian Mariupol, justifying this with a desire to save the lives of the Russian military.
“This is the case when we must think, that is, we must always think, but even more so in the case of saving the life and health of our soldiers and officers” (quoted by TASS).
Meanwhile, the data on those who died during the hostilities in Ukraine is still under the strictest confidence. The Ministry of Defense only lifted the veil of secrecy. The last time it was on March 25, when the department acknowledged the death of 1351 servicemen.
Meanwhile, information appeared on social networks about the identification of relatives and close groups detained as a result of rocket fire on the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, the cruiser Moskva, which in this incident disappeared without a trace from the following several hundred Russian sailors.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov in an interview with the British television channel Sky News, they called the loss of the Russian side “significant”.
According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as of April 21, the loss of Russian troops in killed alone has already exceeded 20, which is significantly more than the loss of the Soviet Union during the entire war with Afghanistan.
An operational check to identify the loss of a source of information about the parties in a war is impossible, however, they find that opponents during a war always underestimate losses and overestimate those of others.
Data on the dead in the world in 2015 came to Russia according to the decree of President Putin in the category of state secrets. In Moscow, the war in Ukraine is still called a “special operation.”
Recently, the RF Ministry of Defense came up with an initiative to instruct the military registration and enlistment offices to issue certificates for a member of the military family who died in the war in Ukraine. Thus, the maximum amount of available information about the relatives of the dead becomes possible, so their identity becomes even more difficult.
“Hiding the truth has become the official principle of how the authorities in Russia interact with society”
There is nothing surprising in classifying in Russia data on military losses in Ukraine, says sociologist and publicist Boris Kagarlitsky. According to the statement, the current government is generally distinguished by a surprising inability to “work with reality except in the regime of silence and lies.” “Although because officials hide their miscalculations on any repetitions,” he explains in an interview with the Voice of America Russian service. – And the discovery of the dead is one of the indicators of how the notorious “special operation” is being conducted. Everyone is afraid of her failure. Therefore, hiding the truth has become a recognized principle of how the authorities in Russia interact with society.”
The most important thing is that whatever propaganda says there is objective support for actions. According to him, in fact, the “special operation” is very unpopular among the population. “Therefore, it is clear that more reliable data on losses will lead to the fact that the balance that is currently formed in public opinion somewhere at the level of 50:50 will shift towards anti-war sentiment. And this government is also very afraid. But in any case, they will come to this result. Simply because the truth still leaks out one way or another, and in addition, rumors are growing that distort the situation rather in a negative direction for the Kremlin.”
The sociologist also drew attention to the fact that, judging by the statistics of losses, in Ukraine, the vast majority of people who die and are injured come from small towns, remote areas, depressed regions, and so on. “And among the minorities of minorities, Dagestan and Buryatia are “leading”. Somewhere nearby, especially for the wounded, and the North Caucasus. Already from this it is clear that the Kremlin is fighting with its discovered hands. This seems to be another reason why sad statistics do not appear in the public space. People are not stupid, they will quickly figure out who is being used as cannon fodder, ”concluded Boris Kagarlitsky.
In turn, the politician Leonid Gozman in the comments to Voice of America, they noticed that even in “backward”, as the Bolsheviks claimed, tsarist Russia, those who died on the battlefields were treated with great respect, I carefully listen to the mourning lists on the pages of the newspaper with the advent of ranks. “Moreover, the sovereign did not “liberate” anyone from the Japanese and German “nationalists,” he added. – He waged war like that, he fights, calling a spade a spade. And in the Kremlin and here they mock common sense. But the main thing is that during the time of the Russian monarchy, the authorities did not manage to turn it into a head like that.
“Putin always didn’t care about people”
At the same time, the current masses, of course, are afraid to make public the scales that are natural about their truth, specific Leonid Gozman: In case of occurrence, their eyes will definitely open to reality. Therefore, the Kremlin rightly fears popular indignation. Due to the fact that even among loyal people there was an easy walk like the Crimean campaign, but not a terrible meat grinder. They are deceived. Propagandists on the eve of the “special operation” trumpeted loudly that Ukrainians do not know how to fight, they will surrender en masse, and so on, but everything turned out quite differently. And the authorities rightly fear that sooner or later, people’s discontent will still spill out naturally.
At the same time, the politician believes that it is not advisable to hide the awl in a bag for a long time. It seems to him that the Kremlin was generally counting on the fact that in three days there would be a parade of Russian troops on Khreshchatyk, the main street of Kyiv. “However, the Ukrainians have made significant adjustments to these plans. Now the authorities continue to expect that when everything happens, and they announce a withdrawal (it will be anyway), then she will write everything off. There is nothing left for them. Well, Putin has always been spit on the people, that simple, that the military. Therefore, the Kremlin brushes aside annoying flies, from the fate of the sailors from the cruiser Moskva, Leonid Gozman.