A leaked database from Rosstat, Russia’s state statistics agency, indicates that Russian authorities recorded at least 11,335 deaths of foreign nationals recruited into the war against Ukraine through coercion, deception or payment. Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, 11 November, that the calculation covers records from 24 February 2022 through the end of August 2026 and includes people from Central Asian states, Ukraine, Africa and Asia. The Rosstat database, containing more than 11 million death records, was obtained by the Belarusian hacker group Cyber Partisans and the Ukrainian hacker group Silent Crow, which later shared the material with journalists.
Key Takeaways: The leak points to at least 11,335 foreign nationals whose deaths are linked to hostilities, drawn from a Rosstat database of more than 11 million records. Many of the dead came from former Soviet republics, especially Kazakhstan and other Central Asian countries; about 3,700 were Ukrainian citizens or people born in Ukraine. The documents contain references to the “special military operation”, shelling, unmanned aerial vehicles and special codes.
The findings shed light on a recruitment pipeline that has relied heavily on economically vulnerable people from the former Soviet space and on residents of occupied Ukrainian territories. Rights groups have long warned that promises of jobs, money or citizenship can shade into coercion, and the leaked records add documentary weight to those concerns. For Central Asian societies, the consequences are practical and painful: families face obstacles in confirming deaths, recovering remains and seeking compensation, while governments in the region have limited leverage over Moscow.
Journalists linked individual deaths to combat by examining details in the records, including references to shelling, drone attacks, the “special military operation” and coded classifications. Address data suggest that many of the Ukrainian citizens or Ukrainian-born victims lived in eastern and southern areas under Russian occupation. After the full-scale invasion, armed structures of the self-proclaimed “Donetsk People’s Republic” and “Luhansk People’s Republic” often forcibly sent local men to the front. Bloomberg cautioned that the true toll is likely higher because the database may omit unregistered deaths, battlefield burials or records deliberately withheld.
The Russian government has not publicly commented on the figures in the material, and independent verification is likely to remain difficult. Researchers and rights defenders are expected to compare the leak with regional registries, family testimony and military records to establish a more reliable count. The disclosures are also likely to intensify scrutiny of Russia’s reliance on foreign recruits and of the opacity surrounding casualty statistics, which independent monitors say consistently understate the human cost of the war.
Source: kun.uz