According to the calculation of «Idel.Realities»*, since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, at least 5,500 natives of Bashkortostan and 5,000 natives of Tatarstan have died. The list includes only those whose death has been recognized in some way by the Russian side, the relatives of the deceased, or educational institutions and other public organizations. The actual numbers may be significantly higher.
In Bashkortostan, from the very beginning of the war, numerous national battalions were created by decree of the head of the republic, Radiy Khabirov, where recruits were enlisted under contract. There is no official information on the mobilized. In December 2022, the publication «Prufy» wrote that Radiy Khabirov decided to allocate 20,000 rubles for the New Year to the families of the mobilized, with 400 million rubles reserved for this. «Even a simple calculation suggests that possibly 20,000 people were mobilized from Bashkortostan», — the publication noted. Later, the same publication, citing data from the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection RB, reported that «a one-time payment of 20,000 rubles was received by 5,293 family members of the mobilized».
At the end of February, the project «Someone else's war. The deceased of Bashkortostan» reported that the average age of the deceased increased to 39 years. Most men died at the age of 31 to 40 years, activists calculated and added that «13% of the deceased spent less than a month in the SVO zone». Most of the deceased — from Ufa, Sterlitamak, Salavat, Beloretsk, and Uchalinsky districts of the republic.
Currently, the one-time payment in the republic is 1.6 million rubles, another 400 thousand — federal payment, and many municipalities have established their payments for signing a contract with the Ministry of Defense. For example, in January, the head of the Ufa administration, Ratmir Mavliev, announced that 700 thousand rubles would be paid from the city budget.
In Tatarstan, the number of military personnel killed in Ukraine — the second highest in the country. The one-time payment in the republic — 2.1 million rubles. Another 300 thousand rubles are paid to the contractor by municipalities, 400 thousand rubles — the federal part of the payment. In most municipalities, enterprises where they work are also required to pay contractors. Thus, they receive more than 3 million rubles.
In total, according to calculations by «Idel.Realities», 33,168 natives of the Volga region have died in Ukraine, with almost 12,000 — in the last six months. The study included Bashkortostan, Tatarstan, Chuvashia, Mordovia, Udmurtia, Mari El, Ulyanovsk, Astrakhan, Nizhny Novgorod, Penza, Saratov, Kirov, Samara, and Orenburg regions, as well as Perm Krai. Most losses among military personnel are aged 35-39 years, primarily contractors.
* Recognized in Russia as a «foreign agent» and «undesirable» organization.