Since the start of the war, the share of Putin's secret decrees has reached a record high in 20 years. Such decrees are also used to award fallen soldiers

Since the start of Russia's war with Ukraine, the share of secret decrees issued by Russian President Vladimir Putin has become the highest in 20 years, Mediazona calculated.

Judging by the serial numbers of Putin's decrees on the website publication.pravo.gov.ru , in March 2022, 54% of all decrees signed by the president during the month were classified. In April, the share of such documents was 49%.

These are record figures since December 2002, when the share of Putin's secret decrees was 59%. At that time, the second Chechen war was going on in Russia, notes Mediazona.

Among other things, secret decrees are used in Russia to award military personnel, including posthumously. Mediazona found a mention of such a decree in a post about the death of a soldier from the Orenburg region. The administration of the district where the deceased lived reported that he was posthumously awarded the Order of Courage by presidential decree No. 85CC of March 3.

Soldiers killed in the war with Ukraine are usually awarded the Order of Courage posthumously. Of the more than 1,700 publications about deaths studied by Mediazona, this order was mentioned in almost 600 cases. We did not find any pattern in these awards, so we assume that almost everyone receives a posthumous award - but it is not always mentioned publicly, especially when it comes to posts by relatives.

Mediazona

• Western and Ukrainian officials estimate that Russia has lost at least 10,000 troops killed since the start of its invasion of Ukraine.
• In Russia, information about military deaths is classified . The Defense Ministry has reported the number of deaths only twice during the entire war with Ukraine. The last time was on March 25, when the department announced the deaths of 1,351 soldiers.