Widespread Deletion of Military Casualty Records
Russian courts have continued the systematic removal of records pertaining to lawsuits filed to declare soldiers missing or dead, with an additional 10,000 records disappearing from court websites by the end of January 2026. This latest wave of deletions follows a significant purge in December 2025, when approximately 70,000 such case files vanished from public access. The removals have affected court websites across 50 regions of the Russian Federation, encompassing both lawsuits initiated by military units and 'civil' cases.
Context of the Lawsuits
These lawsuits are typically filed for critical administrative and financial reasons. Relatives of servicemen often pursue legal recognition of a soldier's missing or deceased status to access vital benefits, pensions, or death certificates. The volume of these cases saw a dramatic increase, particularly after Andrei Belousov assumed the role of Minister of Defence. Belousov reportedly ordered a 'search' for missing personnel, leading military units to file lawsuits en masse as a more expedient method of managing personnel records than physically locating and identifying bodies. By early December 2025, independent monitoring by Mediazona had identified between 88,000 and 90,000 claims seeking to declare soldiers dead or missing. The military was reportedly filing around 2,500 lawsuits per week, or 500 per working day, by that time.
Impact on Casualty Tracking and Transparency
The mass removal of these court records significantly impedes independent efforts to verify and track Russian military casualties. Organizations such as Mediazona and the BBC Russian Service have relied on these public records, among other sources, to compile estimates of losses. No official explanation has been provided by Russian authorities for these widespread deletions.
The Kremlin has historically maintained tight control over information regarding military losses, with official figures often diverging sharply from independent assessments. Russia's last official disclosure of battlefield casualties was in September 2022, reporting 5,937 soldiers killed. In contrast, independent estimates by mid-January 2026, such as those from Mediazona and the BBC, placed the verified number of Russian war dead at 163,606. The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) estimated that by the end of 2025, Russian forces had sustained approximately 1.2 million military casualties (killed, wounded, and missing), with up to 325,000 killed since February 2022.
5 Comments
Donatello
While erasing records is deeply concerning for families, it's also true that wartime casualty figures are notoriously difficult to verify from any side, making all estimates somewhat speculative.
Leonardo
On one hand, this move clearly obstructs independent casualty tracking. On the other, the sheer volume of these cases suggests immense pressure on the military administrative system, which might contribute to such drastic measures.
Michelangelo
Shameful. These soldiers are just numbers to them, erased from existence.
Raphael
Unbelievable numbers. This just proves how desperate they are to conceal their massive losses.
Donatello
The Kremlin's lack of transparency is a major issue, yet governments often control wartime information. The real tragedy is the human cost, regardless of the exact numbers.