Hacker groups Cyberpartisans BY and Silent Crow say they hacked Rosstat and counted Russian losses since the invasion of Ukraine.
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they → say → Ukraine
The hacker groups Kiberpartizany BY and Silent Crow claim to have carried out a large-scale breach of Russia's Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat).
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groups → claim → Service
According to the hackers, they managed to steal about 23 terabytes of data, including internal documents, demographic and economic statistics, as well as information on Russian losses in the war against Ukraine.
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they → accord → Ukraine
The data obtained enabled the groups to make their own calculations of the number of people killed since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
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data → obtain → February
According to Kiberpartizany BY, as of 27 August 2026 at least 393,881 Russian citizens have been killed in the war.
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citizens → accord → war
Silent Crow gives an even higher figure of 450,100 dead.
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Crow → give → 450,100
This significant difference in estimates is due to the use of different methods of counting losses.
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difference → count → losses
Kiberpartizany BY counted deaths in which military action or its consequences were listed as the cause.
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action → count → cause
Silent Crow, by contrast, not only included those killed in combat, but also added several other categories of deaths: non-combat losses among military personnel, deaths marked as terrorist acts, and deaths of people registered in Russia but who died in occupied territories or in Ukraine where the exact cause of death was not established.
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cause → include → death
Why these figures are particularly important
Russia has not released official statistics on combat losses since September 2022.
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Russia → release → September
In addition, from 2024 Rosstat stopped publishing annual data on causes of death, which has made an independent assessment of the demographic impact of the war much more difficult.
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assessment → stop → war
Against this backdrop, access to the agency's internal statistical materials may make it possible to assess the scale of human losses more accurately.
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it → make → losses
For comparison, as of 8 November the joint database of BBC News Russian Service and Mediazona, which collects a list of dead Russian servicemen identified by name, contained around 286,000 names.
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which → collect → names
However, this list is known to be incomplete, especially for the most recent months of the war.
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list → know → war
In a joint study by Meduza and Mediazona, based on analysis of inheritance registry data, the number of fallen Russian servicemen by the end of 2025 was estimated at roughly 350,000.
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number → base → 350,000
In this way, the hackers' estimates are in line with figures from previously published independent studies, although this does not yet prove the accuracy of each individual number.
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this → publish → number
Verifying the authenticity of the data
Meduza and Mediazona have said they obtained access to the data published by the hackers and have begun checking it.
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they → verify → it
The journalists aim to establish not only whether the materials are authentic, but also how complete the information is they contain.
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they → aim → ?
In particular, they need to rule out the possibility of deliberate data falsification.
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they → need → falsification
Moreover, causes of death given in medical documents do not always reflect the actual circumstances of a person's death.
It should also be noted that Rosstat's internal databases do not contain up-to-date information on people listed as missing.
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databases → give → people
Such individuals may be declared dead only after a long period of time.
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individuals → declare → time
Therefore even data from the state statistics agency cannot automatically provide a definitive figure for Russian military losses.
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data → provide → losses
If the authenticity and completeness of the leak are confirmed, the materials obtained could become one of the largest sources of information on the demographic consequences of the war for Russia.
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materials → confirm → Russia
The Aporia
