Russia has only once officially recognized 498 KIA in Ukraine on March 2nd. No official statements on the matter were published ever since. According to Russian law naming any figure beyond that would be fake news and a matter of criminal investigation.
1/7
1/7
Figures I'm seeing indicate a diapason from 5000 to 14000 dead with about 7000 being a more likely estimate. This is a pace beyond anything in Russian history since WWII. Afghanistan or Chechnya do not come even close.
2/7
2/7
It would be reasonable to assume that most of the families of the KIA that do not have affirmative information that their relative is alive want to think their loved one is either alive and fighting, MIA or captured. Key question is how long they are ready to wait
3/7
3/7
Russia can't do this as it did with Covid only showing some deaths and not all deaths. Eventually this would become a wave of morning mothers and wives across the country. But again, even they might be prosecuted for fake news.
4/7
4/7
For that matter, even if you go around every Russian regional website and collect every news of Russian soldier funeral and publish it in one piece and that number would be above the official data - you might be looking at criminal charges again.
5/7
5/7
What is interesting to look at is Russians' search history on Yandex and Google for Ukrainian data on killed and imprisoned Russians. In the first week of the war those searches were above 40k.
6/7
6/7
7/ My point is that Russian officials would not be able to hold this information static and not affecting public sentiment indefinitely. It will soon resonate through available social media, WhatsApp chats, etc.
Fining or jailing morning mothers would not play well for Putin 7/7
Fining or jailing morning mothers would not play well for Putin 7/7
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