Russian ethnic minorities getting crushed in Ukraine war, say U.K. analysts

Russia has sustained more than 1.1 million casualties in combat since President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of neighboring Ukraine in February 2022 — and ethnic minorities, primarily from the Russian Far East, have particularly suffered, British officials said Tuesday.

The London School of Economics and Political Science reported last March that at least 2,470 residents of Buryatia — one of the poorest regions in Russia — had been killed in action since the start of the war. In a republic of only 980,000, that translates to 252 combat deaths per 100,000 residents, analysts said.

“For comparison, the number of Muscovites killed in action is estimated at 1,215. In a city of 13.2 million, this translates into 9.2 combat deaths for 100,000 residents,” the LSE reported.

British officials said fewer than 1% of Russian state officials have relatives taking part in the conflict with Ukraine.

“By focusing recruitment efforts disproportionately on impoverished regions, often predominantly populated by ethnic minorities, Russia’s state apparatus better leverages financial inducements, while also limiting the impact on those urban-dwelling parts of the Russian population that have greater political agency,” British defense officials said on X in their latest assessment of the battlefield in Ukraine.

Mr. Putin and his senior military leadership are “almost certainly” prepared to tolerate high casualty rates as long as it doesn’t hinder public or elite support for the war, and as long as the personnel losses can be replaced, British officials said.