Russian organization calls for probe into the death of soldiers near Ukraine. - USA Today

[purvisdavid1]

[url]http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/08/28/russian-soldier-deaths-ukraine/14727103/[/url]

[quote=USA Today]MOSCOW — A number of Russian soldiers are being killed or going missing, human rights activists say, amid growing evidence suggesting the casualties are the result of Russian military involvement in neighboring Ukraine.

Sergei Krivenko, of Russia's Presidential Human Rights Council, said a woman reported her son's body was brought to her home last week, with documents saying he died of his wounds, but not where he had died.

"She called other soldiers who served with her son," he said. "They told her he was killed among 100 others" in a rocket attack in Ukraine's Donetsk region, where much of the fighting between pro-Russian separatists and the Ukrainian military has been focused.

Earlier this week, the council filed a report with the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation over the deaths of nine contract soldiers of a mechanized infantry division in a training area in the Rostov region, which borders Ukraine.

"These aren't just civilians, but people who are following (military) orders," Krivenko said. "That is why we asked that these deaths be investigated."

Sending soldiers to areas of military confrontation and not officially reporting their deaths was a common practice during the Soviet war in Afghanistan, and similar incidents occurred during Russia's first military conflict in separatist Chechnya in 1994.

While deaths during training do occur in peacetime, Krivenko said they are normally investigated and confirmed immediately. That has not been the case this time.

The reports are sparking fears among relatives of soldiers who are being sent to areas near the Ukrainian border.[/quote]

[quote=USA Today]The Russian government, meanwhile, continues to vehemently deny it is supplying weapons and expertise to the rebels. Alexander Zakharchenko, prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, conceded Thursday that up to 4,000 Russians were fighting alongside rebels, but doing so strictly as volunteers, ITAR-Tass reported.

Photographs emerged in the local Russian news media Monday of the burial of two soldiers of the 76th Airborne Division in the northern Russian city of Pskov, but relatives of those killed refused to talk to journalists.

Memorials on the fresh graves said that Leonid Kichatkin and Alexander Osipov died on Aug.19 and Aug. 20, respectively. Around the same dates, the Ukrainian military captured a BMD-2 infantry fighting vehicle that it said belonged to the Pskov Airborne Division.

Photographs of a roll-call journal found at the site and published by Ukrainian journalist Roman Bochkala included Kichatkin's name. However, a Russian Defense Ministry spokesman called the authenticity of the journal into question, saying such documents were no longer in use.[/quote]

[quote=USA Today]Saratov resident Lyubov Maksimova grew worried Aug. 21, when photos of her son Ilya's personal items showed up online, along with his name on a list of those who had died in Ukraine. Ilya, a serviceman in the airborne troops, had stopped calling her a few days prior. "He used to call every day before that," she said.

After going public with her concerns, Maksimova's family got a call from an unknown number, with an unidentified man telling them they would be speaking to their son.

Ilya spoke briefly, only to say that he was alive and well on a training ground in Rostov across the border from Ukraine, Maksimova said. "I don't know anything else," she added.[/quote]

I suggest reading it all, I just quoted instances of individuals being named and listed as active Russian military.