Reuters reported a sharp increase in losses of the Russian Armed Forces in Syria in 2017. Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of President Putin, admitted that volunteers could fight in Syria, but stressed that these people have no connection with the state or the Ministry of Defense. The Ministry of Defense denied the agency's information and called it an attempt to discredit the anti-terrorist operation in Syria by the Russian military on the eve of Airborne Forces Day.

"This is not the first time that Reuters has tried to discredit Russia's operation to destroy ISIS terrorists (banned in Russia) and return peace to Syria by any means possible," said Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov. He was quoted by Interfax. He noted that the agency's publication appeared on the eve of Airborne Forces Day. It "is no exception in this series."

A representative of the Ministry of Defense assured that there were and are no "secret" burials of soldiers killed in Syria. "Attempts to pass off private individuals who have no connection to the armed forces, much less the operation in Syria, as such are false from beginning to end," Konashenkov said.

"Once again, the sources are some rumors, social media data, and fictitious conversations with supposedly "intimidated" anonymous relatives and acquaintances," RIA Novosti quotes the general as saying. According to him, the Reuters materials "plant a myth about some deceased "contract soldiers" from a "mysterious" organization." The ministry knows who ordered this article and helped prepare it, he warned.

"Unlike the British military, who are illegally in Syria supposedly to fight terrorism," Russian military personnel risk their lives delivering humanitarian aid or reconciling warring parties, Konashenkov said. "Therefore, the mockery of the British agency Reuters on the topic of the death of Russian servicemen in Syria can only cause us contempt."

The Kremlin sees no reason to recheck the data on losses in Syria after the publication, TASS reports . "The data comes from the Ministry of Defense, we should be guided by this data, it is the official one," Peskov added. "If there are any Russian citizens in Syria as volunteers and so on, this is not the state's responsibility and has nothing to do with the Ministry of Defense," he said and suggested asking Reuters where the agency got this information from and what its sources are.

A Reuters investigation says that 40 Russian soldiers have been killed in Syria since the beginning of the year, while the Defense Ministry has reported only 10 deaths. Of these 40, 17 were active military personnel, and another 21 were private military specialists, the agency claims. It was unable to establish the status of two more people. In citing its data on the victims, Reuters cites relatives and friends of the deceased and local officials; most cases "have been confirmed by more than one person each," the agency notes. The deaths of nine of the 40 Russians were confirmed in each case by one source, if their information did not differ from information that had previously appeared in the press or on social networks. Commanders of military units fighting in Syria are demanding that the families of those killed not confirm their deaths, the agency claims, citing relatives and friends of the deceased military personnel and private military specialists. The Defense Ministry and the Kremlin did not respond to the agency's inquiries. Reuters was unable to contact the commanders of private military companies fighting in Syria through their acquaintances.

In May 2015, President Vladimir Putin issued a decree classifying data on personnel losses in peacetime as a state secret. This decision was made at the suggestion of the Ministry of Defense, the Foreign Intelligence Service, and the FSB. Journalists and human rights activists tried to challenge the legality of this decree, but the Supreme Court of Russia rejected their appeal.

Russian volunteers are dying in Syria "not on state lines"