Russia is deliberately misclassifying soldiers who go missing in action as deserters in order to downplay its losses in Ukraine and deny families access to state compensation, according to a new investigation.
The report, published July 28 by Russian independent outlet IStories, details how this practice allows military leadership to obscure the real death toll from the ongoing war and to sidestep financial obligations owed to next of kin. Though both Ukraine and Russia rarely disclose official casualty counts, Ukraine's General Staff said Russian losses have reached over 1,050,000, including killed, wounded, and missing, Kyiv Independent reported.
IStories reviewed more than 50 complaints sent by relatives of missing soldiers to the Russian president's office and found at least 25 units across 11 regions engaged in similar record falsifications. According to the outlet, some families only discovered their loved ones had been labeled deserters after trying to access state benefits, while others learned that commanders filed desertion reports based solely on a missed call or absence during a mission.
In one case, a deceased soldier remained marked as a deserter in official documents even after his funeral. A separate investigation by independent outlet Mediazona found that between January and June 2025 alone, Russian military courts handled more than 26,000 cases involving efforts to formally declare soldiers as missing or deceased, more than in all of 2024.
Earlier this year, IStories also cited data from the OSINT group Frontelligence Insight reporting that roughly 50,500 Russian troops had been officially listed as deserters in 2024. Independent tracking by Mediazona and BBC Russia has confirmed at least 120,000 deaths among Russian military personnel, though the true number is believed to be far higher.
The Kremlin has not responded publicly to the IStories report.
© 2025 Latin Times. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
