Russian media "Meduza" and "MediaZona" published an investigation with estimates of possible Russian losses during a full-scale war against Ukraine.
The number of Russians who died in the war before the start of the offensive operation of Ukraine is from 40 to 55 thousand. If we take into account the seriously wounded and dismissed from service, the losses of the Russian Federation can reach at least 125 thousand people. These data only partially include the missing, but the calculations do not include Russians who are in captivity, as well as Ukrainian citizens who fought and died on the side of the "L/DPR".
The media used the Register of Inheritance Cases (RIC), which Russian citizens have filed against their relatives who died before the end of May 2023, as well as data of Russian Federal State Statistics Service on mortality for 2022.
In order to find out how many killed occupiers end up in the RIC, journalists used the list of the dead found on social networks and in cemeteries, which is maintained by "MediaZona" and the Russian Service of the BBC. Also, the term "excessive mortality" was used for the study of men.