Counting of killed Komi warriors reaches 400

It is the Pesets Telegram channel that has counted the number of men from the Komi Republic that are confirmed killed in Ukraine.

On the 16th of January, the number reached 400.

It was Oleg Cheredov from the regional capital city of Syktyvkar that became the 400th man on the death list. 

On the 17th of January, he was followed by number 401. Vladimir Kazarinov came from Kuzhba, a village with less than 300 inhabitants located in the woodlands west of the Ural Mountains.

According to the local village administration, Kazarinov served in the mercenary Wagner Group until January 2023 and was killed in battle near Bakhmut on the 2nd of August the same year. At the time of his death, he served in a motorised rifle brigade.

Along with the message of the “heroic death” of Vladimir Kazarinov, the social media page of the local village posts recruitment adds from the Russian Armed Forces.

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According to the adds, local men from the Komi Republic can make up to 1,1 million rubles (€11,000) for signing up for contract service.

The death numbers from Komi are significantly higher than from other north Russian regions. A survey compiled by the Barents Observer for the region of Murmansk by mid-January includes the names of 284 men.

Like in all of Russia, a lion’s share of the Komi men confirmed killed in Ukraine come from villages and town far from the regional capital. Tempted by big money, thousands of poor villagers have ended up as cannon fodder in Moscow’s bloody and aggressive onslaught on its neighbouring country.

The number 398 on the Komi death list is Petr Chuprov, a 47-year old man from Yermitsa, a village situated in the northernmost part of the Komi Republic.

The village has only about 150 inhabitants. Chuprov signed up for service in August 2023 and was killed two months later. He then served as part of a so-called Shtorm-Z voluntary unit, the village VK page informs.

As death figures continue to grow, Russian authorities propagate the courage and heroism of the killed men.  On the 14th of January, the Zashchitniki Otechestva, an organisation that closely cooperates with the Kremlin, launched a massive propaganda show branded as a “forum for veterans of the special military operation.” The four-day event took place in the Patriot Park in Moscow and reportedly included more than 400 demobilized warriors, as well as several high-ranking dignitaries from the state structures. Among the latter was First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Sergei Kirienko.

In his address, Kirienko praised the role of Vladimir Putin in the war.

“The Head of State has shown to us all that he relates to the participants of the special military operation as relatives, close people, members of his family,” Kirienko said.

According to estimates from the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the number of Russian warriors killed in the war now exceeds 370,000. A big number of them are likely to remain on Ukrainian soil and thus be unaccounted for by Russian statistics.