Putin declines to give a number for Russian losses in Ukraine
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Russian leader Vladimir Putin speaking at a meeting with senior editors from international news agencies, in Saint Petersburg, on June 5.
PHOTO: REUTERS
SAINT PETERSBURG, Russia - President Vladimir Putin on June 5 declined to give the number of Russia’s battlefield losses in Ukraine, saying only that Ukraine’s were five times higher.
The issue of military casualties is extremely sensitive in Russia, where all criticism of the conflict is banned and “spreading false information” about the army carries a maximum 15-year jail sentence.
“I can tell you that as a rule, no one talks about it,” Mr Putin told representatives from foreign news outlets, when asked why Russia had not yet disclosed a figure.
“If we talk about irrecoverable losses, irrecoverable losses specifically, the ratio is one to five,” he said.
An investigation by the BBC and independent Russian media outlet Mediazona identified more than 50,000 military deaths, although this figure does not include deaths of militia fighters in Donetsk and Lhansk in eastern Ukraine. AFP
