A data leak from Moscow’s statistics agency has revealed that more than 450,000 Russians have lost their lives in the war in Ukraine.
Rosstat was hit by a cyberattack carried out by groups banned in Russia as ‘extremist organisations’, which stole data on the economy and war casualties, according to The Moscow Times.
Two hacker groups from Belarus, ‘Cyber Partisans’ and ‘Silent Crow’, obtained the information from Rosstat’s internal demographic database. This contained information from death certificates registered between February 2022 and August this year, relating to the war in Ukraine.
‘Silent Crow’ estimated the death toll at 450,100. ‘Cyber Partisans’ estimate was slightly lower: 393,881 Russians killed. By way of comparison, 13,000 Soviet soldiers were killed in the nine-year war in Afghanistan from December 1979 to February 1989.
“This is the most extensive data leak regarding Russian casualties. I believe it is an established fact that the war has never been more deadly than it is right now,” says Janis Kluge, head of the Russia and Eurasia Department at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.
The hackers estimate that more than 200,000 Russians could lose their lives by 2026 in total, if current trends continue. The Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) estimated in January that 325,000 Russian soldiers had been killed. This is similar to current estimates from British intelligence and hackers, who suggest that up to 200,000 Russian soldiers will have lost their lives by the end of the year.
CSIS estimated Ukrainian casualties to be far lower, in the range of 100,000–140,000. At first glance, these figures appear to be too low, not least because young Ukrainian men are in fact being forcibly conscripted off the streets and sent to the front line.
The total death toll will be higher, as these figures include neither soldiers missing in action nor the 27,000 foreign fighters believed to have been recruited into the Russian armed forces. There are also foreign soldiers fighting on Ukraine’s side. Added to this are the civilian casualties.
The leaked information is consistent with figures from British intelligence, which in September this year estimated that 500,000 Russian soldiers had been killed in the conflict, reports The Telegraph.
Air Chief Marshal Sir Rich Knighton, the British Chief of the Defence Staff, said that the total number of casualties on the Russian side, including the wounded, is estimated to be 1.5 million since February 2022.
