They were never there: Russia's silence for families of troops killed in Ukraine
Source: The Guardian
They were never there: Russia's silence for families of troops killed in Ukraine
Alec Luhn in Moscow
theguardian.com, Monday 19 January 2015 17.20 GMT
A growing body of information about Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine has started to reveal a damning picture of Moscows intervention in the separatist conflict there, despite Kremlin denials of involvement.
As fighting continued to flare in the east particularly around Donetsk airport, an online organisation has catalogued more than 260 people reportedly killed in eastern Ukraine. The Open Russia organisation , started by the Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky, has also published a map showing where the dead are from.
The official denial of Russian military participation in Ukraine has pressured the relatives of those who served and died there to keep silent, and could deprive many of them of the benefits to which they are entitled. But some have started to speak out.
Yelena Tumanova, a hospital orderly from Russias Mari El republic, said her son Anton Tumanov told her by phone on 10 August that his army unit was being sent to Donetsk. On 20 August, a coffin came back to Mari El with a small window through which she could see his face. His legs had been torn off by an artillery strike, his comrades told her. He was 20 years old.
[font size=1]
-snip-[/font]
Read more:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/19/russia-official-silence-for-families-troops-killed-in-ukraine