At a recorded meeting in the State Duma in Moscow, Anna Tsiviljova, Deputy Defense Minister and also cousin of President Vladimir Putin, states that the authorities have received tens of thousands of cases concerning missing soldiers.
This involves individuals who submit DNA samples to identify their missing relatives.
It concerns all relatives who have contacted us – 48,000, Tsiviljova is heard saying in the clip, which was removed from the Duma's website but later published by the independent news service Astra.
When she says this, another meeting participant, Defense Committee Chairman Andrej Kartapolov, objects:
I would like to ask you not to disclose these figures on missing persons. This is particularly restricted confidential information. When we compile the final documents, we do not want these figures to be circulated.
Anna Tsiviljova responds that she did not mention the number of missing persons, but only the relatives who have contacted the authorities' initiative, which she is responsible for.
Independent Russian Mediazona and British BBC are continuously working to identify fallen Russian soldiers through various open sources. As of November 22, they had found over 79,800 fallen, but the actual total number is believed to be significantly higher.
