Vladimir Putin has been challenged to publicly admit to mass deaths of hundreds of Russian mercenaries fighting in Syria this month.
The Russian President is accused of covering-up the government’s is reliance on ‘cannon fodder’ hired guns to minimise the extent of regular army casualties.
More than 600 Russian mercenary soldiers have reportedly been killed in Syria in recent weeks, many in airstrikes carried out by the U.S.-led coalition.
Kremlin lies: President Vladimir Putin is accused of covering-up his reliance on mercenary soldiers, pictured, to minimise the extent of regular army casualties in Syria
Both U.S. and Russian sources report that more than 200 contract soldiers were killed in a failed attack on a base held by U.S. and Kurdish forces in Deir Ezzor, northeast Syria, last week, Bloomberg reports.
However, the Kremlin said today it had no information about Russian mercenaries reportedly being killed in Syria, saying it only knew about Russian nationals who had been deployed there as members of the Russian armed forces.
‘We don’t have information about other Russians who might be in Syria,’ Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call when asked about the alleged deaths.
Moscow’s denial comes despite the leader of one of the private armies of mercenaries being photographed meeting Putin and attending a ceremony in the Kremlin.
Killed: Vladimir Loginov and Igor Kosoturov were both reportedly killed in Syria this month
Russian mercenary soldier Alexey Ladygin, 26, from Ryazan, perished in Syria last week
Dead: Stanislav Matveyev, 38, was also reported killed in Syria
Opposition politician Grigory Yavlinsky, who is standing against Putin in next month’s presidential election, has called on him to come clean on his use of mercenaries to prop up Syrian president Bashar-al-Assad – and to tell the Russian people the scale of the losses.
Mr Yavlinsky claims mercenary forces ‘are trained at Russian army facilities’ and ‘receive military awards in the Kremlin’ in secret, he alleged.
‘They are, in essence, special troops of the Russian army – despite the fact that mercenaries and private military companies are officially banned in Russia’.
‘Officially denying deaths of armed Russian citizens that fight in Syria by the leadership of Russia is absolutely unacceptable,’ he said.
‘I call on Russian president Vladimir Putin to clarify this. If there were mass deaths of Russian citizens, then relevant officials including Commander-in-Chief of Russian Armed Forces (Putin), must announce it to the country and determine who is responsible.’
The Kremlin has consistently refused to talk about the deployment of mercenaries – which is illegal in Russia – to Syria and rebel-held eastern Ukraine.
Accusations: Putin has been accused by opposition politician Grigory Yavlinsky, pictured together, of lying about the government’s ties to the mercenary armies
Yet the number of Russians killed in bloody clashes in recent days could be as high as 600, according to Igor Strelkov, a former intelligence officer who was a commander of pro-Putin clandestine military operations in Ukraine.
‘It is clear that there are hundreds of dead and injured, several hundreds,’ he said.
‘But the latest figure looks too extreme, it’s allegedly over 600.’
He claimed he was told by Russian private army sources in Syria that by Saturday 644 had been killed, but he could not verify the figure.
Pictures of a handful of the mercenaries who perished in Syria in the past week have emerged.
One was Cossack fighter Vladimir Loginov, 51, from Kaliningrad, a father of two who formerly worked for the Russian Interior Ministry, who died in a U.S.-led coalition airstrike on February 7.
He fell ‘heroically defending our Motherland in its far reaches from crazy savages’, according to the Baltic Cossack Union in Kaliningrad.
Other mercenaries killed were Stanislav Matveyev, 38, and Igor Kosoturov, 45, from Asbest, Alexey Ladygin, 26, from Ryazan and Kirill Ananyev, 33, also with the same private military unit.
Several of the mercenaries killed were reportedly employed by a shadowy private army called Wagner, which has close ties to the Russian defence ministry and whose leader has met Putin.
Wagner – or Vagner – is the nickname of an ex-Russian special forces officer called Dmitry Utkin, who runs the private army.
Mercenary leader: Several of the mercenaries killed were reportedly employed by a shadowy private army called Wagner, whose leader, Dmitry Utkin, pictured, has met Putin
Making friends: Utkin, far right, is photographed with other Wagner army chiefs and Putin at a Kremlin ceremony
Putin’s friend: Dmitry ‘Wagner’ Utkin, circled, is pictured at the reception dinner at the ceremony in Kremlin
Utkin is reported to be the ex commander of the famous Pskov special forces brigade and has been photographed with other Wagner army chiefs and Putin at a Kremlin ceremony. Other leaders of Wagner include decorated former senior Russian army personnel.
Such ‘deniable’ forces enabled Russia to deploy in Crimea, other areas of Ukraine and Syria, while denying its soldiers were on the ground.
The funding for the secret army is believed to come from Russia’s military budget.
A military analyst said: ‘Russia is putting these mercenary forces in harms way on the ground, while the regular army and Air Force are not at the frontline.
However, the Kremlin said today it had no information about Russian mercenaries reportedly being killed in Syria, saying it only knew about Russian nationals who had been deployed there as members of the Russian armed forces.
‘We don’t have information about other Russians who might be in Syria,’ Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call when asked about the alleged deaths.