The BBC and the publication "Mediazona", in collaboration with volunteers, have identified the names of 118,139 Russian servicemen who died during Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Among them are more than 500 foreigners from 28 different countries who did not have Russian citizenship at the time of signing the agreement. The data was compiled on the basis of official sources, publications by relatives and photos of graves. The data on foreigners does not include North Koreans who died.
Among the most numerous foreign victims are citizens of Tajikistan (72), Uzbekistan (66), Nepal (70), Georgia (63) and Ukraine (54 - from territories controlled by Kiev before the war). Some of these people were mobilized from Russian prisons, especially in the initial phases of the conflict, through mercenary structures such as the PMC "Wagner", and later directly by the Russian Ministry of Defense. Many of them joined with promises of accelerated citizenship or the lifting of bans on residence in Russia.
There are indications that most of the dead were from North Korea, but due to lack of access to data, their identities have not been confirmed. According to South Korean intelligence, about 600 North Koreans died. At least 16 people died from Sri Lanka, and according to the country's government, 288 former soldiers were recruited by Russia.
The list also includes American citizens, including the son of a current deputy director of the CIA, as well as dozens of Africans from Ethiopia, Zambia, the Central African Republic, Tanzania and Togo. The majority of the Nepalese who died were recruited in the summer and autumn of 2023, before Nepal officially asked Russia to stop recruiting its citizens.
The BBC emphasizes that the real number of foreign deaths is likely to be significantly higher, as the analysis did not use data from Ukrainian sources or Western intelligence services. The information is updated every two weeks, as the investigation continues.
The data does not include the dead fighters from the armies of the unrecognized republics in Donbas - the DPR and the LPR, but does include Russians who voluntarily joined the armies of these "republics" from other parts of Russia.