SBU: more than 500 Russians who fought in the Donbas have left for Syria
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has information on more than half a thousand citizens of Russia who, after participating in military operations in the Donbas, went on to fight in Syria, said department head Vasyl Hrytsak during a briefing.
"I would like to draw your attention to the fact that this is not about the official Russian military contingent in Syria. These are mercenaries of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, under the guise of a private military company called 'Wagner', or contract soldiers, "he said.
According to Hrytsak, he is speaking particularly about Special Forces, paratroopers and marines.
Referring to the data from the ministry he leads, the head of the SBU said that Russia has lost 124 of its citizens during the fighting in Syria.
The Russian news agency RBC, which monitors the officially recognized deaths of Russian soldiers in Syria, has reported more than 30 dead servicemen in May this year. Reuters has also tried to collect data on Russian servicemen who have died in Syria, arguing that the official statistics are at least four times understated; the Ministry of Defense of Russia has refuted this claim.
In addition, according to reports, mercenaries from Russia - members of the so-called private military companies that are not servicemen of the Armed Forces or other power structures of Russia - are also participating in the war in Syria, on the side of the troops of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. Their deaths in Syria are not taken into account in any way, and are known mainly via reports on social media. It is believed that there may be as many as two hundred such dead in Syria.