The Kremlin can hide the death toll. It can’t hide the graves.

In September, a Russian court condemned a middle-aged man in Yaroslavl to 14 years in a penal colony for taking photographs of gravestones of Russian soldiers who died in Ukraine. With the Kremlin suppressing official casualty figures, independent journalists and activists have used photography to document the true death toll, revealing losses far greater than Moscow has publicly acknowledged.

Crackdown on Documentation

Russian authorities have issued warnings that photographing military graves could result in life imprisonment, while the Federal Security Service now patrols cemeteries across Russia. Since summer, several dozen people have been arrested on treason charges, specifically accused of cooperating with Ukrainian intelligence services.

Staggering Casualty Estimates

Russia 200, a casualty-tracking database by Mediazona and BBC Russian, lists nearly 283,000 dead soldiers. Other estimates are significantly higher: the U.K. Foreign Office and Dutch intelligence services report over half a million losses, while Ukrainian President Zelenskyy announced 700,000 Russian deaths in July.

These figures far exceed Soviet casualties in Afghanistan, where the Kremlin similarly concealed losses. Relatives of Afghan war victims were forbidden from engraving the place of death on gravestones, with some even forced to hold nighttime funerals to avoid attention.

Official Secrecy

Initially, the Kremlin was less guarded about casualties. In September 2022, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu acknowledged 5,937 Russian deaths. Since then, official pronouncements have ceased, and in April 2024, a Kremlin spokesperson declared casualty information a 'state secret,' leaving reporting to the Ministry of Defense.

As the conflict continues, Moscow's efforts to conceal the human cost intensify, with harsh penalties deterring anyone attempting to document the true scale of losses in Ukraine.