Russia's attitude towards its fallen soldiers is appalling if it is not fake news - this is how officers of the Latvian National Armed Forces that were interviewed by Neatkarīgā assess the news in media about the Russian Deputy Defense Minister's desire to dispose of the fallen in a cynical manner.
On March 3 this year, the media reported that "a letter signed by Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexei Krivoruchko demanded that soldiers involved in hostilities be stripped of their identity documents and personal badges as of March 1".
The letter also demands that the moving of the bodies of the fallen to their permanent resting places be arranged "as soon as possible" and that this be done secretly at night. The fallen should be buried in brethren cemeteries, including on Belarusian territory, with a number assigned to each burial. If the bodies cannot be moved, they must be destroyed on the spot.
On March 1 this year, Lev Shlosberg, a Pskov region activist and critic of the Kremlin regime, announced on his Telegram channel that "the regime of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is determined not to return the remains of Russian soldiers who fought and were killed in Ukraine to their relatives, instead burning the bodies in mobile crematoriums so that they cannot be properly buried". Shlosberg expressed the opinion that the Russian regime has learnt from the experience of previous wars and this time will not send the coffins of fallen soldiers home to be buried by relatives by which the general public could learn about the real victims of war. Instead, the bodies of the fallen will be disposed of in mobile crematoriums, and Shlosberg guesses that in order to shut their mouths and prevent them from talking about the circumstances of what happened, the relatives of the fallen soldiers will be compensated if they sign a confidentiality agreement in return.
History has seen many different wars, but the dignified burial of fallen soldiers, insofar as it has been possible in wartime, has always been a sacrosanct and obvious matter, regardless of the soldier's army. Even during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the remains of fallen Soviet soldiers were brought to their relatives in so-called zinc coffins from very inaccessible parts of Afghanistan. Until now, none of the belligerents had thought of sending the remains of a soldier to be destroyed in cremation ovens.
When asked how he assessed the media coverage of Russia's attitude towards its fallen, Jānis Hartmanis, Reserve Colonel of the Latvian National Armed Forces and military historian, said: "This is in complete contradiction with the basic norms of humanity. From the very beginning, Putin has declared the terrible affair in Ukraine to be a "special operation", i.e., that it is not a war, but something that is shrouded in darkness, that cannot be published anywhere, that it is all secret. Since this so-called special operation is being carried out by special task force soldiers or Chekists or who knows what else, it is all under this huge veneer of secrecy. But his secrecy plan, as we can see, has failed, and now it is obvious to everyone that this is a real war after all. A very serious war has begun, in which the Ukrainian army is fighting valiantly. And in this respect, Russia's treatment of its fallen soldiers is appalling. It is also a terrible attitude towards the families of these soldiers, towards the mothers of the soldiers, towards their own people. Putin is not an army man. He comes from the structures of the KGB, so he also has this attitude. He has twisted what is happening into a cunning and bloody dressing that is incomprehensible to the ordinary person. It is incomprehensible how the remains of a fallen soldier can be taken and put in some sort of mobile special metal container, burned there and simply disappear, or buried in the burial places of unknown soldiers in Belarus. This is incomprehensible to normal soldiers who have served in the army. I myself have served in two armies - in the Soviet army for compulsory service, which I completed as a sergeant, and in the Latvian army for more than twenty years. This attitude towards the fallen is disgraceful and terrible. But Putin does not give a damn. We can look at his face - the face of a werewolfish and unemotional monster. It is clear that the fighting in Ukraine will continue. Putin will not back down. He has great resources at his disposal. But in the end, Ukraine will win the war! That is clear, because the people are resisting. The National Guard units have been formed. Hats off! The Ukrainians are amazing! We are helping what we can.
One of the first Russian aircraft to be shot down was done with a Stinger we supplied,"
revealed Hartmanis.
Mārtiņš Vērdiņš, Reserve Captain of the Latvian National Armed Forces and host of the professional military website Vara Bungas, said that he found it hard to believe in such barbaric treatment of his own fallen soldiers. "I have great doubts that Russia will hide the facts about the fallen soldiers from their families, if only because they themselves have promised large compensation, 5-7 million rubles for the dead. It would not be possible to simply say that a soldier has disappeared somewhere and the army knows nothing. The news of the soldier's death will reach the families, because they will want to apply for compensation. I assume that we will not know the real figures for the losses for a long time. For the first three days of the war, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported that there were no casualties at all. It was only on the fourth or fifth day that it started to say that there were losses. Then many people realized that the Ministry of Defense had been lying - how could it be that for the first three days there were no losses and then suddenly the next day there are. The same war that is happening on the ground is happening in the information space. The casualty figures are also a weapon. What I can tell you, however, is that no country that is at war with another country throws casualty figures around. They do not make them public because these figures undermine the morale of the soldiers, and even in a democracy, it is counterproductive to make these figures public during a war. Casualties can be listed after victory, but it is not a wise thing to report them in the heat of battle. For this reason, I would look very carefully at all these leaked documents. That is why I ignored this news about Russia's treatment of the fallen and didn't let it bother me. It did not bother me because I cannot determine whether it is true or not. Another thing to understand is that there is a very intense level of hostilities at the moment. Sometimes it is impossible to understand where the foreigners are, where your own people are; where the civilians are, where the military are. In such circumstances, non-governmental organizations cannot work to identify and clear out the dead either. I had anticipated that a ceasefire would be declared for 24 hours to remove the wounded and the fallen. But the parties are in their third round of talks and no agreement has been reached even on the living, let alone the fallen."