Marta Gichko06:25, 03/05/24
In this way, the government of the Putin regime is trying to avoid leaking information about losses.
The Russian government has found a way to hide the real losses during the first year of a full-scale war against Ukraine.
According to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Russian authorities have hidden data on recipients of social support services in 2022 for this purpose. The opposition publication “Verstka” stated that this may also be due to the fact that it is necessary to hide the Russian government’s failure to pay promised social assistance to vulnerable segments of the population.
Some of the hidden data contains information that could reveal the scale of losses in Ukraine, such as indicators on “widows of military personnel who died during military service” and “citizens who were wounded, shell-shocked, traumatized and maimed while performing military service duties.”
ISW analysts suggest that the statistics were hidden to prevent social unrest that arose around reports of Russian casualties in Ukraine. This information was shared only in 2023 and 2024, when the Kremlin line regarding Russian losses was somewhat consolidated to eliminate the social shock.
It is likely that the Kremlin also withheld social service data for 2022 to hide its problems in delivering promised social support measures to various individuals, especially those affected by the first year of the war.
(C)UNIAN 2024
“It is likely that the Kremlin also withheld social service data for 2022 to hide its problems in delivering promised social support measures to various individuals, especially those affected by the first year of the war.”
Well, is it a problem or deliberate fraud, to save the state money by listing so many casualties as “missing in action”? Or maybe there’s even double bookkeeping, corrupt officials diverting the pension payments while pretending to grieving relatives that soldiers are “MIA”? In the Russian kleptocracy, you can’t rule that out. 👿