Putin's relative happened to tell about missing soldiers

Published 6 December 2024 at 11.10

Foreign. Russia has been tight-lipped about losses in the ongoing war of invasion in Ukraine, but a senior government official may have accidentally leaked classified information.

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Anna Tsiviljova, deputy defense minister and cousin of President Vladimir Putin, told a State Duma meeting in Moscow that 48,000 people who are relatives of Russian soldiers had submitted DNA samples to identify missing relatives.

This appears of a video clip from the opposition news service Astra, which published the recording after it was removed from the Duma's website, writes Reuters.

During the discussion Andrej Kartapolov, chairman of the defense committee, reacted sharply to the statement:

– I would like to kindly ask you not to publish these figures about missing persons. It is particularly sensitive, secret information.

Tsiviljova defended herself by saying that she did not mention the number of missing people, but only the number of relatives who contacted the authorities.

– I only stated the number of requests we have received. Many of them will be found, she said.

Russia has not released death tolls since the first months after the invasion began in February 2022.

Pro-Western media such as Mediazona and the BBC have through open sources claimed to be able to confirm the names of over 79,800 fallen Russian soldiers up to November 22 this year.

Western intelligence agencies estimate that the real number could be as high as 200,000.

The war has become Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II with estimates also pointing to heavy losses for Ukraine – with at least 60,000 dead and up to 400,000 injured soldiers.

Despite high losses Russia has a numerical advantage, largely thanks to its larger population. At the same time, the number of missing soldiers continues to be a sensitive and contested issue in both countries.