Media: 54 Russian mercenaries killed in Syria in September 2017
At least 54 Russian mercenaries from private military companies were killed in Syria in September 2017, the BBC Russian service reported, after investigating documents provided by the mother of one of the mercenaries.
The documents were submitted for publication by Nina Atyusheva, mother of Yevgeny Alikov from Severoonezhsk in Russia’s Arkhangelsk province. Atyusheva said that she had been contacted in the middle of September 2017 by a man from Rostov-on-Don who introduced himself as Andrei. The man told her that she had to come to the city to fetch the body of her son, who had died in Syria. When she replied that she could not travel alone, Andrei said to her, “we don’t leave our own behind”. On September 20, a middle-aged man arrived at her house in a car. “He brought a coffin with my son, all of his documents and money,” Atyusheva explained.
The man also handed over five million rubles as an insurance payment for the death of her son. Atyusheva claims that he put wads of five thousand ruble notes wrapped in rubber bands on the kitchen table.
In addition, the man brought hospital certificates. Among the documents published by BBC was Alikov’s proof of receiving a Wagner Private Military Company (PMC) badge. The document states that on May 19, he was given the private number M-3601. His mother said that he arrived in Syria in the middle of summer 2017.
According to the BBC article, the standard badge number issued by the Russian Defense Ministry contains a capital letter of the Russian alphabet followed by a six-digit number. The numbers of PMC fighters in Syria are shortened to four digits.
BBC Russian’s correspondents and Atyusheva attempted to call Andrei, but the man who answered the phone call said that Andrei is not his name, and that he does not know anything about Russian volunteers in Syria.
If 54 Russian PMC mercenaries were killed in Syria, this is more than the official death toll for the entire three and a half years of the campaign. According to the official data published by the Russian Defense Ministry, only 44 Russian soldiers have been killed in the operation in Syria.
Last week there were reports that an estimated 300 Russian mercenaries were killed or wounded in Syria.