A relative of Vladimir Putin has accidentally let slip secret Kremlin data that reveals Russia’s losses in its war in Ukraine.
Ana Tsivilyova, the reported daughter of Putin’s cousin and a deputy defence minister, said that the Kremlin had received tens of thousands of appeals from relatives looking to track missing soldiers.
“The ministry of internal affairs takes [DNA samples] absolutely free of charge at its own expense, and enters into its database for all the relatives who have applied to us. I’ve already said 48,000,” Ms Tsivilyova said in a video at a meeting with lawmakers.
The number of Russians killed in Ukraine is thought to be higher than this, according to Western intelligence. Actual data on battlefield losses is a closely guarded secret in Russia and Ukraine.
In 2023, Putin appointed Ms Tsivilyova as the chairman of a government fund for war veterans. He promoted her again this year as deputy defence minister. Her father was Yevgeny Putin, the president’s cousin.
Astra, the Russian language opposition Telegram channel that published the footage, said that the video showed a parliamentary hearing in November.
Moments after Ms Tsivilyova had disclosed the data, Andrei Kartapolov, Russia’s defence committee chief, interjected and reminded viewers that the numbers were top secret and not to be published.
“I earnestly ask you not to use these figures anywhere. This is such sensitive, closed information. And when we draw up the final documents, we should not include these figures anywhere,” he said.
The Russian government regards its casualty numbers as top secret because it doesn’t want ordinary Russians to understand the true cost of its war in Ukraine.
Western intelligence has said that Russia has suffered more than 700,000 dead or badly injured in the near-three-year war, vastly surpassing the decade-long Afghan War that the Soviet Union fought from 1979. The Kremlin suffered around 70,000 casualties in its war in Afghanistan, which was said to have defined a generation.
November was Russia’s bloodiest month since the start of the war in Ukraine in February 2022, suffering 1,500 casualties every day as Putin urges on his forces ahead of an expected peace deal set to be imposed by Donald Trump after he is sworn in as the next US President in January.
