Putin declares troop deaths in peacetime are 'state secret'

Russian president Vladimir Putin has officially declared that information regarding the deaths of Russian armed forces in peacetime is a state secret. The new ruling will come into effective immediately, according to a presidential decree published by the Kremlin today.

Previously, only losses of personnel sustained during an official declaration of war were considered a state secret according to legislation dating back to 1995. Since then Russian troops have been openly involved in conflict in Chechnya and Georgia, however neither consisted a declaration of war and casualties were reported.

Although evidence has mounted that thousands of Russian soldiers are unofficially engaged in war in Ukraine, Russia has continued to deny it is involved in the conflict and reports of dead Russian soldiers has been one of the main points of evidence for Russian military presence in Ukraine.

According to this latest change in legislation, disclosing information about casualties in the Russian armed forces "in peacetime during special operations" will be punishable under the criminal code's article 283, the maximum penalty for which is up to seven years in prison.

Putin-critic Boris Nemtsov's correspondence with dead soldier's families was compiled in his report which was called Putin.War, while the Atlantic Council launched a similar file of evidence today entitled Hiding in Plain Sight: Putin's War in Ukraine.

Sergey Kryvenko, a member of the Kremlin's own human rights council told Russian business channel RBC that he believes the new decree is related to the conflict in Ukraine and Boris Nemtsov's report. He highlighted that the term "special operations" has no legal definition in the Russian constitution. This term has already been used to refer to the Russian troops which seized Crimea last spring.

Russian soldiers have previously been captured in eastern Ukraine, notably from the 76 and 98 paratrooper divisions. Over the summer separatist leader Alexander Zaharchenko estimated that around 4,000 Russian servicemen were fighting alongside his men in Ukraine, but insisted they were there voluntarily, out of their desire to help Russian speakers. The total number of Russian soldiers who have died continues to go unreported because Russia maintains that no military operation is ongoing in Ukraine and no total comprehensive official records have been published.

The explanation regularly given for Russian soldiers who have died during the conflict in Ukraine has been that they were killed during military exercises and the term 'Cargo 200' has been coined to refer to Russian soldiers arriving back into Russia zinc coffins.

The Kremlin is yet to comment on the reason behind the new change of law concerning state secrets.