On October 10, 2017, a Russian Su-24 front-line bomber rolled off the runway at the Syrian Khmeimim airfield during takeoff; the crew of the plane did not have time to eject and died. The names of the dead have not yet been announced. “Kommersant” collected all the information about Russian losses during the Aerospace Forces operation in Syria.
On October 2, the Ministry of Defense reported that he died in the Main Military Clinical Hospital from wounds received in Syria. Colonel Valery Fedyanin. He organized the delivery of humanitarian aid by the Russian Center for Reconciliation of Warring Parties in Syria to one of the settlements in the province of Hama. A landmine exploded under the car in which the Russian officer was located.
The military department said that on September 22, Valery Fedyanin organized the delivery of humanitarian aid to one of the settlements in the province of Hama by the Russian Center for the Reconciliation of Warring Parties in Syria
September 28, 2017, Amaq news agency associated with the terrorist organization "Islamic State" announced the death of one Russian military(his name was not given) and the capture of two more in the Syrian province of Deir ez-Zor. According to Amaq, a Russian soldier died during the battle for the village of Al-Shoula, which was occupied by IS militants. The Russian Ministry of Defense denies the death of a soldier.
On September 23, 2017, Lieutenant General died after a mortar attack in Deir ez-Zor Valery Asapov. He was at the Syrian military command post, assisting Syrian commanders in managing the operation to liberate the city. The department noted that the general was posthumously nominated for a high state award. General Asapov was deputy commander of the 5th Red Banner Army of the Eastern Military District. He was previously awarded many military awards, including the Order of Courage, the Order of Military Merit, the Order of the Veteran's Cross, 2nd class, and the Medal for Military Merit.
On September 4, 2017, the Ministry of Defense announced that two Russian servicemen under contract(names were not given) died in Syria after a mortar attack by IS militants. According to the department, the military escorted a convoy of the Russian Center for the Reconciliation of Warring Parties in the province of Deir ez-Zor.
On July 11, 2017, the Ministry of Defense announced the death of a Russian military adviser in the province of Hama as a result of mortar fire by militants. Captain Nikolai Afanasov.
On May 3, 2017, the Ministry of Defense announced the death of a Russian military adviser in Syria Lieutenant Colonel Alexey Buchelnikov. He was killed by sniper fire from militants during a combat training session for an artillery unit of the Syrian army. On the same day, the online publication “Gorod” from Bratsk, Irkutsk region, reported the death in Syria of a 24-year-old Russian serviceman Bogdan Derevitsky.
On April 20, 2017, the Ministry of Defense announced the death of a Russian military adviser in Syria Major Sergei Bordov. The Russian died as a result of a militant attack on a military garrison of government troops. Sergei Bordov organized the actions of Syrian military personnel, preventing terrorists from breaking through to a residential settlement. Posthumously he was nominated for a state award.
On April 10, 2017, RBC reported the death of two Russian servicemen in Syria. One of the dead Igor Zavidny, before Syria he served under contract in Chechnya, Dagestan, Ingushetia. The enviable man and his colleague were covered with mortar fire. On April 11, the Ministry of Defense also announced that two Russian servicemen had been killed by mortars, without specifying their names.
March 22, 2017 RBC publication reported the death of nine Russians in Syria, whose death was not officially reported. The media managed to establish that six of them belonged to the private military company Wagner; the rest allegedly participated in the Russian military campaign.
On March 6, 2017, the media reported the death of a 23-year-old man in Syria Ivan Slyshkina, a native of the village of Tatysh, Ozersky urban district. According to Znak.com, he died on February 12 from a sniper bullet, and was buried on March 2 in the city of Ozersk, Chelyabinsk region. The soldier volunteered for Syria to earn money for his wedding. On the same day it became known about the death in Palmyra of a 23-year-old Artem Gorbunova, who served in the 96th separate reconnaissance brigade in Nizhny Novgorod. The Ministry of Defense confirmed his death, saying that he “carried out tasks to protect a group of Russian military advisers.”
On February 16, 2017, on the way from the Tiyas airfield towards the city of Homs, four Russian military advisers were killed as a result of a car being blown up by a radio-controlled landmine. Two more were injured, including the head of the combat training department of the headquarters of the Western Military District Major General Pyotr Milyukhin.
On December 7, 2016, in Aleppo, he died due to a wound received during shelling. Colonel Ruslan Galitsky, who was in the country as a military adviser. The colonel served in Buryatia as commander of the fifth guards separate tank brigade. In addition, it was reported that he was previously the head of the operational department of one of the units of the Southern Military District and in February 2016 received the badge “For Military Service” from the governor of the Rostov region.
On December 5, 2016, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported an attack on a hospital in Aleppo. As a result of the shelling, two nurses of a military hospital from the city of Birobidzhan were killed. Nadezhda Durachenko and Galina Mikhailova were sent to Syria on November 30. The official representative of the Russian Ministry of Defense, Igor Konashenkov, blamed the murder of Russian doctors not only on the militants, but also on “countries that sympathize with them,” which included the United States, Great Britain and France.
On August 12, the head of the republic, Yuri Kokov, announced on his Instagram that a resident of the city of Nartkala, Urvan district of the republic, had died in Syria while performing a combat mission. Asker Bizhoeva. “The fight against international terrorism, which our country is selflessly waging, including on distant approaches, unfortunately, is not without losses. While performing a combat mission in the Syrian Arab Republic, a resident of the city of Nartkala, Urvan district of Kabardino-Balkaria, Asker Bizhoev, died heroically. By decree of the President of the Russian Federation, he was awarded the Order of Courage posthumously. The award was presented to his parents,” Mr. Kokov wrote.
On August 1, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported the loss of a Mi-8 helicopter with five people on board. “On August 1, in the province of Idlib, as a result of shelling from the ground, a Russian military transport helicopter Mi-8 was shot down returning to the Khmeimim airbase after delivering humanitarian aid to the city of Aleppo,” the department reported. “There were three crew members and two officers Russian Center for Reconciliation of Warring Parties in Syria.”
Everyone who was in the Mi-8 died, said Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov. “This is a helicopter that carried out a humanitarian mission. Those who were in the helicopter, according to information received from the Ministry of Defense, died, died heroically, because they tried to take the car away in order to minimize casualties on the ground,” Mr. Peskov said.
On July 8, Al Jazeera TV channel reported that militants from the Islamic State (an organization banned in the Russian Federation) shot down a Russian Mi-35M helicopter performing a combat mission near Palmyra. Crew commander Colonel Ryafagat Khabibullin And Lieutenant Evgeny Dolgin died on the spot. A day later, the Russian Ministry of Defense admitted the loss of the vehicle and the death of the pilots.
According to Kommersant, a group with at least two Mi-35Ms was flying over the area in the province of Homs, when the crew led by Colonel Khabibullin noticed that in the east of Palmyra a large detachment of militants was attacking the positions of Syrian troops. Colonel Khabibullin's helicopter opened fire on the enemy. Having fired all its ammunition, the Mi-35M tried to fly back, but the tail boom was hit by a missile from an ATGM (according to Interfax, the shot was fired from an American TOW). The car immediately lost control, began to stall and went into an uncontrolled rotation. A few seconds later the helicopter crashed to the ground and exploded.
On June 19, the press service of the Ministry of Defense confirmed media information about the death of a Russian serviceman Andrey Timoshenkov in Syria. “On June 15, 2016, in Homs province, Andrei Timoshenkov, a serviceman guarding a humanitarian convoy of the Russian Center for the Reconciliation of Warring Parties in Syria, prevented a car filled with explosives from breaking through to the place where humanitarian aid was being distributed to civilians,” the press service reported.
The ministry said that an infantryman stopped a car filled with explosives by opening fire on it with small arms. “During the explosion of a car driven by a suicide bomber, Andrei himself received a wound incompatible with life. Military doctors at the Khmeimim air base fought for the life of the serviceman for more than a day, but Tymoshenkov died from a serious wound on June 16,” added representatives of the press service. The deceased will be presented by the command posthumously for a state award.
On June 16, the State TV and Radio Company “Amur” reported that a Russian contract soldier had died in Syria. Mikhail Shirokopoyas. His relatives said that the military man served under contract in the 35th Combined Arms Army as an artilleryman. As the wife of Mikhail Shirokopoyas said, he was sent to Syria in April 2016. A month later, the sergeant was wounded by a mine explosion. He was sent to Moscow for treatment, but the serviceman died from his wound.
On the same day, the Ministry of Defense confirmed information about the death of a Russian military man. “June 7 at the Main Military Clinical Hospital named after. N.N. Burdenko in Moscow died from wounds received during shelling of a car convoy of the Russian Center for the Reconciliation of Warring Parties in Syria, a contract soldier, junior sergeant Mikhail Shirokopoyas,” the department told Interfax. The Ministry of Defense added that he was posthumously nominated for the Order of Courage.
On May 11, it became known about the death of a serviceman in the Syrian province of Homs Anton Erygina, a native of Voronezh. Khmeimim's Russian base reported that he was seriously injured while being escorted by vehicles from the Russian Center for Reconciliation of Warring Parties, after which he was taken to the hospital, where doctors fought for his life for two days.
The Ministry of Defense noted that the serviceman was nominated for a state award - posthumously. According to RIA Voronezh, Anton Erygin served as a signalman, was sent on a business trip on April 3 for a period of three months, and died on May 7 as a result of sniper shelling in Palmyra.
On April 12, a Russian Mi-28N Night Hunter combat helicopter crashed near the Syrian city of Homs. According to the Ministry of Defense, two crew members were killed during the night crash. Their names were not officially announced.
According to the online publication “Little Syzran”, the dead pilots were graduates of the Syzran VVAUL. This commander Andrey Okladnikov 2000 and navigator Viktor Pankov 2011 release. Before the mission to Syria, the helicopter crew served in the 487th separate helicopter regiment in Budennovsk, Stavropol Territory.
The department noted that the helicopter was not shot down. Presumably, the cause of the tragedy was unfavorable weather conditions, but the results of the investigation were not presented.
On March 17, in the area of the village of Tadmor (Palmyra, Homs province), he died Senior Lieutenant of the Special Operations Forces of the Russian Armed Forces Alexander Prokhorenko.
According to a representative of the Khmeimim base, the soldier died heroically, causing fire on himself after he was discovered by terrorists and surrounded. “The officer carried out a combat mission in the Palmyra area for a week, identifying the most important targets of ISIS (the Islamic State terrorist group, banned in the Russian Federation - Kommersant) and giving out the exact coordinates for strikes by Russian aircraft,” he explained.
On April 11, Vladimir Putin awarded Alexander Prokhorenko the title of Hero of Russia. On the day of his funeral, May 6, mourning was declared in the Orenburg region.
On February 3, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced the death in Syria of a Russian military adviser who came under mortar fire two days earlier. The Ministry of Defense did not name the deceased, but the media reported that he was a 42-year-old Lieutenant Colonel Ivan Cheremisin. Vladimir Putin later confirmed the death of the military man, and the Kremlin explained that the information was kept secret for security reasons.
According to the official version, Ivan Cheremisin, who graduated from the Yekaterinburg Suvorov Military School in 1995, did not participate in hostilities in Syria, but was engaged in training the Syrian military. According to the Ministry of Defense, a military adviser was killed when IS militants shelled a Syrian army training center in Homs province. Along with the Russian lieutenant colonel, four Syrian army cadets were killed. Lieutenant Colonel Cheremisin is survived by an eight-year-old son and a daughter, a university student.
On November 24, a Turkish Air Force F-16 fighter shot down a Russian Su-24M bomber near the Syrian-Turkish border.
45-year-old bomber commander Lieutenant Colonel Oleg Peshkov And navigator Konstantin Murakhtin ejected. The commander was killed by fire from the ground during landing, the navigator was evacuated during the rescue operation.
A native of the Altai Territory, Oleg Peshkov graduated with honors from the Kharkov Higher Military Aviation School in 1991. After studying, he served as a pilot in Kyrgyzstan and the Amur region, and in the Primorsky Territory he rose to the rank of squadron commander. Since 2009, he headed the flight safety service at the 4th State Center for Aviation Personnel Training and Military Testing of the Russian Ministry of Defense near Lipetsk. During his service, he mastered five types of aircraft and flew 1,750 hours.
The pilot was awarded the Hero of Russia star posthumously; it was given to his widow. The lieutenant colonel is survived by two children.
On the same day, November 24, a 29-year-old Marine was killed during an operation to rescue the crew of a downed Russian bomber. Alexander Pozynich. He was killed as a result of a shrapnel wound to the neck while in a Mi-8 helicopter of the Russian Aerospace Forces destroyed by militants.
Alexander Pozynich was born in Novocherkassk, after military service in the army he remained to serve on a contract basis. According to media reports, the marine served in the 22nd separate special forces brigade of the Russian Armed Forces, stationed near Rostov-on-Don, and also passed through a number of hot spots. Posthumously awarded the Order of Courage. He is survived by a five-year-old son and a seven-year-old daughter.
On November 26, 2015, media reports appeared about the death of a 27-year-old Russian military man Fedora Zhuravleva, a native of the village of Paltso, Bryansk region. According to Reuters, the contractor's family was informed of his death on November 19, and he was buried on November 24.
Later, on March 17, 2016, at an awards ceremony for Russian military personnel in the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin indirectly confirmed the death of a serviceman, addressing his widow.
In Syria, Fyodor Zhuravlev was engaged in guiding missiles of long-range strategic aviation of the Russian Federation. The media also reported that before his business trip to Syria, he served in the GRU Special Purpose Center “Senezh” in Solnechnogorsk near Moscow, but there was no official confirmation of this information.
On October 24, 2015, a 19-year-old Russian contract soldier died at the Khmeimim airbase. Vadim Kostenko from the village of Grechanaya Balka, Krasnodar Territory. Three days later, the Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed this information. At the base, he was involved in aircraft maintenance.
According to the official version of the military, Vadim Kostenko committed suicide due to “discord in his personal relationship with his girlfriend.” Relatives of the deceased, however, questioned this version, talking about multiple injuries on the contractor’s body.
According to unofficial data, before leaving for Syria on September 14, Vadim Kostenko served in military service in Primorsko-Akhtarsk, 120 km from home at a military airfield where the 960th attack air regiment of the 1st Guards Mixed Air Division of the 4th Air Force and Air Defense Army is located.
Unconfirmed losses
On March 23, 2016, media reports appeared about the death of the sixth Russian serviceman in Syria - officer of the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, 61-year-old Sergei Chupov. It was reported that he died on February 8 during a mortar attack by Syrian militants. Information about the place of death of the serviceman was allegedly confirmed by one of his colleagues, but his relatives denied it, saying that he died near the border with Ukraine. Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov also did not confirm the information about the death of a Russian military man in Syria.
According to the Conflict Intelligence Team, Sergei Chupov graduated from the Alma-Ata Higher Combined Arms Command School, served in the 56th Separate Guards Air Assault Brigade in the late 1980s, and took part in battles in Afghanistan. In the mid-1990s, he ended up in the 101st special operational brigade of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, which served in both wars in Chechnya. In 2000, on the basis of this brigade, the 46th separate operational brigade of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation was formed, in whose ranks he continued to serve. Information about Sergei Chupov’s places of service in the media was confirmed by a number of his colleagues.
On April 5, 2016, media reports appeared about the death in Syria of a native of the Orenburg region, Special forces officer "Vityaz" of the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Vadim Tumakov. The press service of the internal troops, however, reported that Mr. Tumakov has not been in the service for 12 years, noting that the department does not track the future fate of former military personnel.
On December 8, 2016, a 37-year-old commander of an airborne assault battalion died near Palmyra. Major Sanal Sanchirov. His funeral took place on December 13 in the Kalmyk village of Yashkul. The Ministry of Defense has not yet officially confirmed this news.
On March 22, 2017, RBC reported the death of nine Russians in Syria. The publication was able to establish that six of them belonged to the Wagner PMC; the rest, according to media reports, participated in the Russian military company.
According to the publication, on January 29 he died in Syria Dmitry Markelov. The soldier next to him touched the tripwire, and Markelov was carried to the side by the blast wave - he died of a broken heart. Markelov previously served in Chechnya for nine years and received Russian awards, including the St. George Cross and the Order for Service in the Caucasus. On February 16 he was buried in the Zelenodolsk region of Tatarstan. According to media reports, he served in the Wagner PMC.
On January 31, he died from shrapnel wounds in Syria. Konstantin Zadorozhny. Previously, he served in the special forces of the GRU of the Donetsk People's Republic, and in Syria he was a member of the Wagner PMC. He was buried in the Moscow region on February 14.
On February 1, near Tiyas in Homs province, he was blown up by a mine and died Alexey Nainodin, mercenary of the Wagner PMC. Before this, Nainodin served in the 101st Special Operational Brigade of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Grozny, and went through the first and second Chechen wars. He had many awards, including the Order of Courage and two medals “For Courage”. On the same day he died in Syria Roman Rudenko. According to media reports, he also participated in the military campaign in Donbass.
In February, a terrorist attack in Syria's Homs province also killed Mikhail Nefedov. A suicide bomber blew up a group of soldiers, killing 10 people, including Nefedov. A mercenary of the Wagner group, Mikhail Nefedov previously participated in battles in the Donbass. He was buried on March 4 in the city of Miass in the Chelyabinsk region.
On February 16, he died in Syria Alexey Veselov. He was born in Kolomna, and, according to media reports, was an active serviceman in the Russian army.
Died on February 18 near Palmyra Alexander Tychinin. Previously, he served in the 12th separate special forces brigade of the GRU. According to media reports, he worked at the Wagner PMC.
On February 22, in Tias in Homs province, a native of North Ossetia was killed as a result of an armored personnel carrier being blown up by a mine. Alexander Zangiev.
On February 28, the deceased in Syria was buried Procopius Solomonov. He was born in the village of Ulakh-An, Khangalassky district of Yakutia. He fought on the side of the militia in the Donbass and was part of the Wagner PMC.
Other victims in a private military company
On March 17, 2016, the Islamic State published photos and videos allegedly five Russian soldiers who died in Syria near Palmyra. Photos of their equipment and pictures from their phones were also released. This information has not received official confirmation.
According to media reports, these could be fighters from a Russian private military company (PMC). Soldiers of the so-called “Wagner PMC” have been participating in the operation in Syria since 2015. According to the Wall Street Journal as of December 2015, the operation in Syria already cost the organization nine dead. It was reported that this private military company was formed in 2014 to replace the Slavic Corps organization, which had been sending mercenaries to Syria since 2013.
Mikhail Malaev, Olga Kalinina, Evgeny Fedunenko, Dmitry Shelkovnikov
On April 11, the Ministry of Defense announced the death of two contract soldiers in Syria. Thus, since the military operation in Syria, according to confirmed data, 30 people have been killed.
On April 11, 2017, the Ministry of Defense confirmed the death of two Russian military personnel. According to the department, they died as a result of a militant attack.
On March 6, 2017, the Ministry of Defense confirmed the death of Russian serviceman Artem Gorbunov. Earlier, Gorbunov’s wife, Sophia, said that on March 2 he died in Syria during the operation to capture Palmyra.
On February 20, 2017, the Ministry of Defense reported the death of four and the injury of two Russian soldiers. Their car was blown up.
On December 7, 2016, the Ministry of Defense announced the death of Colonel Ruslan Galitsky. During the shelling of one of the Aleppo neighborhoods by militants, he was wounded.
On December 5, 2016, two Russian military nurses, Nadezhda Durachenko and Galina Mikhailova, died as a result of a direct mine hit in the emergency room of a mobile hospital in Aleppo.
On August 1, 2016, a Russian Mi-8 helicopter was shot down in Idlib province. Five were killed - three crew members and two officers. The helicopter was returning after completing a humanitarian mission.
The wreckage of a downed Russian Mi-8 helicopter in Idlib province (Photo: Reuters/Pixstream)
In May 2016, serviceman Asker Bizhoev died while performing a combat mission. He was awarded the Order of Courage posthumously.
On July 22, 2016, contract soldier Nikita Shevchenko was killed while performing a combat mission in the Aleppo region. He was nominated for a state award posthumously.
On July 8, 2016, the commander of the 55th separate army aviation regiment, Colonel Ryafagat Khabibullin, and instructor pilot Evgeny Dolgin died when the helicopter they were flying was shot down from the ground.
On June 15, 2016, Andrei Timoshenkov died in Homs province. According to the press service of the Ministry of Defense, Timoshenkov “prevented the breakthrough of a car filled with explosives to the place where humanitarian aid was distributed to the civilian population.”
On June 7, 2016, junior sergeant Mikhail Shirokopoyas died in Moscow from wounds received during shelling of a Russian convoy in Syria.
On May 11, 2016, Anton Erygin died. He was seriously injured on May 9 while escorting vehicles from the Russian Center for Reconciliation of Warring Parties.
On April 12, 2016, a Russian Mi-28N helicopter crashed near Homs, killing two crew members Andrei Okladnikov and Viktor Pankov. The Ministry of Defense stated that the helicopter was not shot down, and the results of the investigation were not presented.
On March 17, 2016, Russian special forces officer Alexander Prokhorenko died near Palmyra. His death was announced by the Ministry of Defense on March 24. According to the department, the serviceman was performing reconnaissance missions in the Palmyra area when he was surrounded and caused fire on himself.
Farewell ceremony for Senior Lieutenant Alexander Prokhorenko, Hero of Russia, who died in Syria in the village of Gorodki, Tyulgansky district (Photo: Sergey Medvedev/TASS)
On February 1, 2016, military adviser Lieutenant Colonel Ivan Cheremisin died. According to the Ministry of Defense, Cheremisin was in Syria as a military adviser.
On November 24, 2015, Marine Alexander Pozynich died during an operation to rescue the crew of a Su-24 shot down by a Turkish fighter. During the operation, one of the Mi-8 helicopters carrying troops was shot down and made an emergency landing. Pozynich received a shrapnel wound to the neck and died.
On November 24, 2015, Su-24 crew commander Oleg Peshkov died. The plane was shot down by a Turkish F-16 fighter with an air-to-air missile near the Syrian-Turkish border in the province of Latakia.
Memorial plaque in memory of the commander of the Su-24 bomber Oleg Peshkov, who died in Syria, installed on the monument to military glory near the village of Vozzhaevka (Photo: Sergey Lazovsky/TASS)
On November 19, 2015, captain Fyodor Zhuravlev died. At the funeral, Zhuravlev’s commander told his relatives that he had died during a special operation against militants in Kabardino-Balkaria.
During Putin’s meeting with military personnel returning from Syria on March 17, the soldier’s widow was presented with awards. Later, presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov confirmed to Reuters the fact of Zhuravlev’s death in Syria.
On October 24, 2015, contract soldier Vadim Kostenko died. The official version of death is that he committed suicide at the Khmeimim airbase due to a disagreement “in his personal relationship with his girlfriend.” This version was reported to the Ministry of Defense the day before the funeral.
Journalists have again discovered a discrepancy between Russia's Aerospace Forces operation in Syria and the likely actual number of casualties. According to reports from the Russian Ministry of Defense, in 2017 the death toll was 10 people. In fact, at least 40 Russian citizens could have died in Syria, Reuters reports, citing stories from their relatives, friends, as well as data from local authorities. The Ministry of Defense categorically denies this data.
The agency was able to confirm most of the identified deaths from more than one source. In nine cases, death reports circulated in local media or social networks were supported by data from another source.
In addition, Reuters has evidence that of the 40 killed during the operation in Syria, 21 were mercenaries. There are 17 military personnel. The agency was unable to find out the status of the rest.
According to Konashenkov, in the Reuters material “again, the sources include some rumors, data from social networks and fictitious conversations with allegedly “intimidated” anonymous “relatives and acquaintances.” In the publication itself, there is only a mention of military personnel of the Russian Armed Forces, but “instead, a myth about some dead “contract soldiers” from a “mysterious” organization,” the department representative added.
Konashenkov emphasized that the Russian Ministry of Defense knows the “customer” of the Reuters publication and those who “helped” prepare it. “Therefore, we explain especially for the “Russian” editorial office of Reuters. There were and are no supposedly “secret” burials of Russian military personnel who died in Syria. Attempts to pass off as them private individuals who have no relation to the Armed Forces, and especially to the operation in Syria is deceitful from beginning to end,” the ministry representative snapped.
The underestimation of Russian losses in Syria has been reported repeatedly
Previously, Reuters has repeatedly reported on discrepancies between the official victims of Russia’s operation in Syria and the actual ones. In April, the agency noted that since the end of January 2017, the Russian Federation had suffered four times more losses in the Syrian Arab Republic than officially reported. According to evidence collected by Reuters, since January 29 - that is, during the period of intense fighting to capture Palmyra - 21 Russians have died in Syria. At the same time, the Ministry of Defense officially confirmed in 2017 data on only five victims.
In March, the Conflict Intelligence Team, which conducts independent investigations into military conflicts, reported the deaths of nine Russians in Syria, which were not officially reported. According to the CIT, at least six of them were Wagner Group mercenaries.
In addition, according to Russian authorities, during the 15 months of the Russian Aerospace Forces’ operation in the Arab Republic (from September 2015 to December 2016), 23 servicemen were killed. At the same time, Reuters counted 36 dead, including mercenaries.
As the agency notes, the discrepancy between official information and actual losses can be partly explained by the fact that Russia does not openly admit that mercenaries from private military companies are present in Syria along with military personnel. Their presence in the SAR will be a violation of the legislative ban on the participation of civilians in hostilities as mercenaries (Article 359 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Mercenarism”).
The Russian authorities quietly admit some losses several months later, notes Reuters. The families of the victims are given posthumous awards, and local authorities sometimes name the schools in which they studied after the military men who fell in Syria.
Last spring, Russian President Vladimir Putin, by decree, expanded the list of information classified as state secrets, classifying data on the losses of Defense Ministry personnel “in peacetime during special operations.”
Official losses of the Russian Federation in Syria for 2017:
1. Artem Gorbunov, a soldier of the 96th separate reconnaissance brigade, died on March 2 in the Palmyra area;
2. One of the four military advisers who died on February 16 in the Homs area, according to press reports - Vadim Magamurov, senior lieutenant;
3. One of the four military advisers killed on February 16 in the Homs area, according to press reports - Pavel Kozachenko, marine;
4. One of the four military advisers who died on February 16 in the Homs area, according to press reports, was contract soldier Prokopiy Solomonov;
5. One of the four military advisers killed on February 16 in the Homs area (the Ministry of Defense did not disclose the names of any of those killed);
6. One of two contract servicemen, died on April 11, 2017 (possibly Igor Zavidny);
7. One of two contract servicemen, died on April 11, 2017 (possibly Alexey Goncharenko);
8. Major Sergei Bordov, military adviser, died on April 20, 2017;
9. Lieutenant Colonel Alexey Buchelnikov, military adviser, died on May 2, 2017;
10. Captain Nikolai Afanasov, military adviser, died on July 11, 2017 in the province of Hama.
*"Islamic State" (IS, ISIS, Daesh) is a terrorist group banned in the Russian Federation.
Journalists again discovered a discrepancy between official losses Russia during the Aerospace Forces operation in Syria and the likely actual number of casualties. According to reports from the Russian Ministry of Defense, in 2017 the death toll was 10 people. In fact, at least 40 Russian citizens could have died in Syria, Reuters reports, citing stories from their relatives, friends, as well as data from local authorities. The Ministry of Defense categorically refuted .
The agency was able to confirm most of the identified deaths from more than one source. In nine cases, death reports circulated in local media or social networks were supported by data from another source.
In addition, Reuters has evidence that of the 40 killed during the operation in Syria, 21 were mercenaries. There are 17 military personnel. The agency was unable to find out the status of the rest.
According to Konashenkov, in the Reuters material “again, the sources include some rumors, data from social networks and fictitious conversations with allegedly “intimidated” anonymous “relatives and acquaintances.” In the publication itself, there is only a mention of military personnel of the Russian Armed Forces, but “instead, a myth about some dead “contract soldiers” from a “mysterious” organization,” the department representative added.
Konashenkov emphasized that the Russian Ministry of Defense knows the “customer” of the Reuters publication and those who “helped” prepare it. “Therefore, we explain especially for the “Russian” editorial office of Reuters. There were and are no supposedly “secret” burials of Russian military personnel who died in Syria. Attempts to pass off as them private individuals who have no relation to the Armed Forces, and especially to the operation in Syria is deceitful from beginning to end,” the ministry representative snapped.
The underestimation of Russian losses in Syria has been reported repeatedly
Previously, Reuters has repeatedly reported on discrepancies between the official victims of Russia’s operation in Syria and the actual ones. In April, the agency noted that since the end of January 2017, the Russian Federation had suffered four times more losses in the Syrian Arab Republic than officially reported. According to evidence collected by Reuters, since January 29 - that is, during the period of intense fighting to capture Palmyra - 21 Russians have died in Syria. At the same time, the Ministry of Defense officially confirmed in 2017 data on only five victims.
In March, the Conflict Intelligence Team, which conducts independent investigations into military conflicts, reported the deaths of nine Russians in Syria, which were not officially reported. According to the CIT, at least six of them were Wagner Group mercenaries.
In addition, according to Russian authorities, during the 15 months of the Russian Aerospace Forces’ operation in the Arab Republic (from September 2015 to December 2016), 23 servicemen were killed. At the same time, Reuters counted 36 dead, including mercenaries.
As the agency notes, the discrepancy between official information and actual losses can be partly explained by the fact that Russia does not openly admit that mercenaries from private military companies are present in Syria along with military personnel. Their presence in the SAR will be a violation of the legislative ban on the participation of civilians in hostilities as mercenaries (Article 359 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Mercenarism”).
The Russian authorities quietly admit some losses several months later, notes Reuters. The families of the victims are given posthumous awards, and local authorities sometimes name the schools in which they studied after the military men who fell in Syria.
Last spring, Russian President Vladimir Putin, by decree, expanded the list of information classified as state secrets, classifying data on the losses of Defense Ministry personnel “in peacetime during special operations.”
Official losses of the Russian Federation in Syria for 2017:
1. Artem Gorbunov, a soldier of the 96th separate reconnaissance brigade, died on March 2 in the Palmyra area;
2. One of the four military advisers who died on February 16 in the Homs area, according to press reports - Vadim Magamurov, senior lieutenant;
3. One of the four military advisers killed on February 16 in the Homs area, according to press reports - Pavel Kozachenko, marine;
4. One of the four military advisers who died on February 16 in the Homs area, according to press reports, was contract soldier Prokopiy Solomonov;
5. One of the four military advisers killed on February 16 in the Homs area (the Ministry of Defense did not disclose the names of any of those killed);
6. One of two contract servicemen, died on April 11, 2017 (possibly Igor Zavidny);
7. One of two contract servicemen, died on April 11, 2017 (possibly Alexey Goncharenko);
8. Major Sergei Bordov, military adviser, died on April 20, 2017;
9. Lieutenant Colonel Alexey Buchelnikov, military adviser, died on May 2, 2017;
10. Captain Nikolai Afanasov, military adviser, died on July 11, 2017 in the province of Hama.
It became known about the death of two more Russian soldiers in Syria: Yuri Khabarov from the Yaroslavl region and Magomed Terbulatov from Chechnya died.
The investigation team reported the death of Khabarov Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT) with reference to his friend, who wrote about Khabarov’s death on VKontakte on September 25. According to investigators, before being sent to Syria, the Russian fought on the side of the separatists in Donbass. “Whether he was in Syria as a contract soldier of the Russian army or as a mercenary of a PMC is currently unknown. However, it should be noted that we repeatedly met veterans of combat operations in eastern Ukraine in the ranks of the Wagner PMC,” CIT noted.
According to reports from the Russian Ministry of Defense, in 2017 the number of Russians killed in Syria was . In fact, there is evidence of deaths there from January to July 2017 at least 40 citizens of the Russian Federation. Journalists have evidence that among these dead Russians there were 21 mercenaries and 17 military personnel. The status of the other two victims could not be determined. Experts have long reported a serious discrepancy between official Russian losses during the Aerospace Forces operation in Syria and the actual number of casualties.
The funeral of Chechen Ministry of Internal Affairs officer Magomed Terbulatov was reported by the online publication Kavkaz.Realii. Based on the photo in Terbulatov’s Odnoklassniki profile, journalists concluded that he was an employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
According to the publication, Terbulatov’s body was brought home to the village of Predgornoye in the Nadterechny district on September 24, and he went to Syria as part of the Chechen military police in December 2016.
A fellow villager of the deceased said that Terbulatov got married a little over a year ago and has a young child.
On September 20, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced the encirclement of 30 military police in the Syrian province of Idlib. The department did not report any deaths.
The cause of the death of General Asapov in Syria was called a data leak to terrorists
Last week it became known about the death of five Russian military personnel in Syria, including Lieutenant General Valery Asapov, whom tore apart on the front line during a mortar attack on Deir ez-Zor. Data from a preliminary investigation into the death of Asapov conducted by the Syrian side confirm the version of information leakage to terrorists, RIA Novosti reports, citing a source in the security agencies of the Syrian Republic.
“The results of the preliminary investigation into the death of General Asapov in Deir ez-Zor indicate a leak of information about his whereabouts to the side that carried out the shelling,” he said.
As the Russian Ministry of Defense reported, the senior group of Russian military advisers, Lieutenant General Valery Asapov, was at the command post of the Syrian troops, assisting Syrian commanders in managing the operation to liberate the city of Deir ez-Zor. As a result of a sudden mortar attack from IS* militants, Asapov was mortally wounded by a mine explosion.
Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergei Ryabkov blamed the United States for his death; the State Department responded that the United States was not involved in the incident and does not support terrorists.
According to media estimates, Asapov became the 38th Russian serviceman to die in Syria since the beginning of the operation of the Russian Aerospace Forces in this country. The Russian Ministry of Defense reported that in 2017 the death toll was 10 people. The department noted that the general was posthumously nominated for a high state award.
Official losses of the Russian Federation in Syria for 2017:
1. On February 16, senior lieutenant Vadim Magamurov died in the Homs area; according to press reports, one of the four military advisers who died that day;
2. On February 16, marine Pavel Kozachenko died in the Homs area - one of four military advisers who died that day;
3. On February 16, contract soldier Prokopiy Solomonov, one of four military advisers who died that day, died in the Homs area;
4. On February 16, one of the four military advisers, whose names were never officially disclosed by the Ministry of Defense, was killed in the Homs area;
5. On March 2, Artem Gorbunov, a serviceman of the 96th separate reconnaissance brigade, died in the Palmyra area;
6. On April 11, 2017, one of the two contract servicemen died - possibly Igor Zavidny;
7. On April 11, 2017, one of the two contract servicemen died - possibly Alexey Goncharenko;
8. On April 20, 2017, military adviser Major died
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