– Not possible to hide – VG
To the poor republic of Burjatia on Lake Baikal, many Russian soldiers return home in coffins. They hoped for a better life by wearing uniforms.
How many Russian soldiers have actually been killed in Ukraine? Who are they? And where do they come from?
Ukraine claims that 23,000 Russian soldiers have lost their lives. They themselves do not go out with their own loss figures. And the Russians have not been out with high for a very long time either. Last week, the British Minister of Defense indicated 15,000 dead Russian fighters.
From poor neighborhoods
The local media “Ljudi Bajkala” reports that the number of dead soldiers from the Republic of Burjatia is already over 100. Almost daily, dead men are buried, writes Meduza.
By comparison, there are almost none from the major cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg. Petersburg, which makes up nearly 12 percent of the Russian population, reports Mediazona.
BBC Russian edition writes that only three soldiers from the capital have lost their lives so far and that a large proportion of the dead come from poor regions of Russia.
The Republic of Dagestan in the Caucasus must be the only one with more deaths than Burjatia, but they also have more than three times as many inhabitants as Burjatia.
– Sees no future
The Republic of Lake Baikal has less than one million inhabitants. One third of them are ethnic burjats. Burjatia is poor.
– These may be boys who do not know what to do and who do not see any future at home in Burjatia. Then they enlist in the army. This is one of the reasons why there is talk that the Russian army lacks the military culture which makes it an effective army, says Charlotte Flindt Pedersen, director of the Foreign Policy Society in Copenhagen, to VG.
– Many young men, not least from Moscow and St. Petersburg. Petersburg, goes abroad to avoid being mobilized for the army if that should happen. In the same way, the war will be an opportunity for boys from poor areas to make good money – compared to the opportunities that exist at home in Russia’s suburbs, says Charlotte Flindt Pedersen.
– The same in the United States
She sought that it is nothing special with Russia that soldiers are recruited in poor areas. Her compatriot Peter Viggo Jakobsen at the Danish Defense Academy says this to VG:
– It’s a bit like in the UK and US. If we also take the demographic profile of the soldiers, we will see that they often come from poor areas and perhaps lower social classes. It works in much the same way.
Peter Viggo Jakobsen is careful to predict how many Russian soldiers have lost their lives in Ukraine.
– They are reluctant to speak on both the Russian and Ukrainian side. It is difficult to say what the real numbers are. But as the war has developed and when one looks at how much material the Russians have lost, they must have a significant human loss.
– Not possible to hide
– Moscow will not talk about how big the loss is, but around Russia people notice that the soldiers do not come home, others come home in coffins and soldiers call home and tell. Then it is not possible to keep it hidden, says Peter Viggo Jakobsen.
Charlotte Flindt Pedersen says this about the Ukrainian figures for Russian losses, which now stand at 23,000:
– I think the Ukrainian loss figures are very precise. The publishers daily high to motivate the fight against the invasion forces. On the other hand, they do not go out with their own loss figures. Ukraine, of course, has an interest in lying on a bit, but I think their numbers are quite correct.
As early as the end of March, NATO estimated that the Russian casualty figures would be between 7,000 and 15,000 soldiers.
So can the loss figures change opinions in Russia? Charlotte Flindt Pedersen again:
– I think the mobilization in state media is so wild that no one dares to question the losses. In the past, the organization Soldier Mothers has played an important role, but they had to end their work for fear of being hit as a “foreign agent” and not being able to mark themselves as they did in Afghanistan and Chechnya.
– Opposition to the war does not emerge. People know they can be arrested just by standing with a flower in their hand in a public place. Therefore, it is also difficult to say what is going on in the depths of the people of Russia.
Watch video: Several Russian attempts to demonstrate against the war in Ukraine, but the smallest mark can have major consequences:
– Can beat both ways
Ilmari Käihkö at the Swedish Defense College believes that the loss figures can tip both ways:
– Spontaneously, we may want the support for the war to be less. But it can also go the other way. In the short term, some – as relatives – can support the war even more, because they want to justify their own loss. It’s easier to deal with the wallpaper if they see an intention with the war. It’s worse if a son or husband or father has died unnecessarily. It remains to be seen how the Russian society will react, says Käihkö to VG.
Back to the Republic of Burjatia. There is a newly built sports hall for their national branch, archery, set aside to hold all the funerals of the soldiers who have come home in coffins.
The local media “Ljudi Bajkala” describes a Monday when there were four coffins with soldiers to be laid to rest. The youngest was 20 years old, the other 24, the two oldest 35 and 38 years old. Both left a child and a pregnant wife. Three of them are Buddhists, the fourth Orthodox. These are the main religious denominations of the republic.
One-fifth officers
It could be both one and two months before the dead soldiers arrive all the way to Burjatia, the local website reports.
Mediazona writes that relatives who have missed a love among the soldiers in Ukraine, find out about the deaths from their cameras or through pictures they find online.
In Perm in Siberia, the head of the military in the county, Aleksandr Kokovin, has asked the authorities in the area to put a lid on all information about dead, wounded and captured soldiers in Ukraine, reports Meduza.
It happened during a net-broadcast meeting on the preparations for May 9, which Russia celebrates every year grandly for the victory over Nazi Germany in 1945.
BBC Russian edition has collected information on deaths from open sources. They have come to a total of 1899 dead Russian fighters as of now. Of these, one-fifth are officers, the website reports.