Nemtsov's report: 220 Russian soldiers died in Ukraine

At least 220 Russian soldiers were killed in battles in eastern Ukraine last August and early this year, according to a report prepared by politician Boris Nemtsov, who was killed in February. Report “Putin. War” was completed by his colleagues and presented to the public on Tuesday.

Nemtsov’s report, which was worked on by his colleagues in the RPR-Parnas party, journalists, as well as economist Sergei Aleksashenko, claims that in August 2014, at least 150 Russian soldiers died near Ilovaisk and other points of the conflict in the Donbass, and at the beginning of this year in the Debaltsevo area - about 70 more military personnel of the Russian army.

Report compiled on the basis of open data. In addition, a separate page contains information received by Nemtsov from relatives of dead soldiers - it is on this page that an estimate of the number of Russian soldiers killed in the Ukrainian war is provided.

There is also a photo of a note written by Nemtsov to his assistant Olga Shorina: “Partroopers from Ivanovo came out to attack me. 17 killed, no money given. But for now they are afraid to speak.”

“This is not a report with some sensational findings and sensational information. This report (compiled) so that Russian citizens can simply compare the information and understand what is happening. Because propaganda works so powerfully that even the available facts in open sources on the Internet do not allow citizens to draw their own conclusions,” said Mikhail Kasyanov, head of RPR-Parnas, when opening the presentation of the report.

"Patriots wrote"

“This was a very important report for Boris. He generally believed in the power of words and in the fact that it was possible to explain to Russians what was really happening - even to those who are susceptible to the propaganda that flows from television screens,” added Olga Shorina, editor of the report and executive director of RPR-Parnas.

Another editor of the report and Boris Nemtsov’s closest ally, Ilya Yashin, assured that the people who worked on the report are patriots of Russia who want to protect its national interests.

“We are convinced that the policy that Putin is pursuing, the isolationism that Putin is imposing on our country, the war that Putin unleashed with a fraternal neighboring state - all this is contrary to the interests of Russia [...] Russia suffered not only material, economic losses - Russia suffered colossal political harm as a result of the geopolitical adventure that Putin unleashed in eastern Ukraine. The war with Ukraine - an undeclared, vile, cynical war - is a crime against the entire Russian people. We are paying for this with the lives of our fellow citizens, we are paying for this with the economic crisis, we are paying for this with political isolation,” Yashin said.

Report “Putin. War" consists of 11 chapters. In the first, entitled “Why Putin Needs This War,” the authors suggest that the annexation of Crimea and the war in Donbass were ways for President Putin to increase his popularity within the country.

In the chapters devoted to the participation of the Russian army and Russians - volunteers, politicians and political strategists - in the Donbass conflict, the authors brought together various evidence and investigations published since last summer about the supply of equipment, about the participation in battles and deaths of Russian military personnel and other one way or another confirmed facts. Ilya Yashin emphasized that he and his co-authors carefully checked all the information and eliminated much that was dubious and unconfirmed.

The chapter “Who Shot Down the Boeing” retells known data about the circumstances of the death of the Malaysian Boeing 777 with 298 passengers and crew members. The authors, in particular, recall the messages of the separatists that appeared shortly before the tragedy that they had acquired the Buk anti-aircraft complex, that the separatists and, following them, Russian agencies reported on July 17 about the downing of a Ukrainian plane and deleted the messages when it became clear that a passenger airliner was shot down, about oral testimony and photographic evidence of a missile launch from territory controlled by the separatists. In addition, the report briefly examines the versions put into circulation by the Russian side, as well as their refutation.

Pocket effect

In the last chapter, “How much does the war with Ukraine cost,” the famous economist Sergei Aleksashenko suggests that in ten months Russia spent on the Ukrainian war - on maintaining soldiers and militias, transferring equipment and ammunition, fuel, etc. - up to 53 billion rubles (1 billion dollars). In addition, according to economist estimates, it costs Russian regions 12 billion rubles ($237 million) per month to maintain refugees from Donbass.

An order of magnitude larger sum according to plans will go to Crimea if these plans are not adjusted due to the crisis, while the losses of Russia and its citizens from sanctions and “counter-sanctions,” according to Aleksashenko and other economists, are two orders of magnitude greater than the direct costs of the war.

Boris Nemtsov was killed in Moscow on the night of February 28. After his death, it became known that he was working on a report containing allegations that Russian troops are fighting on the side of the separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Statements that Russia is helping the separatists with troops and heavy weapons have been repeatedly heard from the Ukrainian government, Western leaders and NATO. Independent observers also talked about this.

However, Moscow invariably denies all such accusations and insists that Russian citizens participating in the war on the side of the separatists are volunteers.