The Russian BBC service* and «Meduza»* based on open data established that at least 15 thousand mobilized Russians died during the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, of which 42% - in the first year of the war. They were conscripted and sent to the front as part of the «partial mobilization», which was announced three years ago and has not yet been officially completed.
In November 2022, Vladimir Putin stated that as a result, 318 thousand people were covered by the «partial mobilization», but journalists cite a figure of 500 thousand people.
The leading places in terms of the absolute number of identified deceased mobilized are Bashkortostan and Tatarstan (884 and 861 deceased mobilized). This is partly explained by the fact that in these republics, volunteers and local activists actively collect data on the deceased.
If we look at the distribution of deaths per 10 thousand men in the regions, Buryatia will be the leader in losses among the mobilized by a large margin (23 deceased). The indicators of the following Tuva and Magadan regions are almost half as low.
As journalists note, Buryatia has become an example of harsh mobilization. According to reports from soldiers' relatives and independent media, in the early days, men were taken to mobilization points directly from the streets and workplaces. According to human rights defenders, as a result, the republic became the leading region both in terms of the number of men recruited into the army and the number of complaints from relatives and the conscripted themselves.
In the named list of publications, 15,077 mobilized Russian military personnel died during the invasion. Their average age is 35 years. The total number of Russian losses by mid-September is 133,117 people.
* Recognized in Russia as «foreign agents».