The lists of deceased Belgorod residents, the so-called 'memory books', can no longer be found on the websites of district libraries in the Belgorod region, reported the publication 'Ash. Belgorod'. When attempting to open the links that previously led to the lists, an error message and a missing page appear. This data is currently available only in three municipalities of the region.
'Memory books' were published on library websites under a special law of the Belgorod region 'On the perpetuation of the memory of those who died defending the Fatherland on the territory of the Belgorod region', which was adopted on November 2, 2022. The law provides for the creation of a printed and/or electronic publication, including information about the deceased and missing.
'Ash' found out that the pages with 'memory books' were removed on the same day — October 22 — a day after Belgorod residents, calling themselves 'partisans of the Belgorod People's Republic', held an anti-war action. They distributed leaflets urging to sign a contract with the Ministry of Defense, and the link led to data on those killed in the war.
According to 'Ash', collected from open sources, since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, 1001 natives of the Belgorod region have died, another 174 are listed as missing. 79 servicemen among the deceased were born and died under Putin.
In September, the chairman of the Belgorod Regional Duma, Yuri Klopikov, reported that since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, more than 250 civilians have died in the region, and one and a half thousand have been injured.