Kremlin: Russians Slain in Syria Are Volunteers Who Have ‘Nothing to Do with the State’

“If there are Russian citizens in Syria as volunteers and so on, they have nothing to do with the state,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday, amid reports that Russia’s casualties in Syria are far higher than the government has admitted.

Reuters looked at accounts from the families and friends of dead Russian soldiers, social media posts, and reports in local media, plus reports by officials in Syria, and estimated the death toll for soldiers and private contractors is at least 40 for the year to date—four times higher than the Russian Defense Ministry’s official tally of ten.

“The true level of casualties in the Syrian conflict is a sensitive subject in a country where positive coverage of the conflict features prominently in the media and ahead of a presidential election next year that incumbent Vladimir Putin is expected to win,” Reuters notes.

In fact, the topic is allegedly so sensitive that the families of fallen soldiers are strongly encouraged to keep quiet about the deaths of their loved ones. The precise casualty count is an official state secret, by decree of President Vladimir Putin, and has been treated as such since the very beginning of the Russian intervention. Sometimes the Russian government quietly acknowledges the deaths long after they happen.

Also, it is ostensibly illegal under Russian law for private mercenaries to fight in foreign conflicts, which caused some embarrassment for Putin when the fiancee of a decorated Russian soldier slain by ISIS snipers in Syria revealed he was actually working for a shadowy private army when he died.

Reuters adds that the correct total for the first seven months of 2017 is higher than the 36 Russians believed to have been killed in Syria over the previous 15 months, suggesting a significant escalation in casualties.

Although the Kremlin did not respond to a request for comment from Reuters, the Defense Ministry came out swinging against it on Wednesday afternoon. “This is not the first time that Reuters is attempting to discredit, by any means, Russia’s operation aiming to destroy Islamic State terrorists and the return of peace to Syria,” a spokesman scoffed.