“Sibir.Realii”: the authorities of Khakassia, at the request of the Ministry of Defense, stopped publishing obituaries about those killed in Ukraine

The authorities of Khakassia have stopped publishing obituaries of military personnel killed in Ukraine at the request of the Ministry of Defense. This was reported by Sibir.Realii with reference to sources close to the regional authorities.

In particular, information has ceased to be published not only about the dead members of the Russian army, but also about the Wagner PMC mercenaries. According to the publication’s interlocutor, the publication restriction is due to the fact that these data are used by journalists from Mediazona and the BBC Russian Service to calculate losses in Ukraine.

“Open data strongly diverges from the reports of the Ministry of Defense, which last named the total number of losses in September 2022,” says the Sibir.Realii material.

Mediazona, together with the BBC Russian Service and a team of volunteers, continues to maintain a list of Russian soldiers killed in the war with Ukraine. As of June 2, 2023, based on open source data alone, we have counted more than 24,000 Russian military deaths since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The real death toll may be several times higher.