The deputy governor of Primorsky Krai, Sergei Efremov, died while returning from a combat mission. His death was announced by the governor, Oleg Kozhemyako, and later his colleague from the Kursk region, Alexander Khinshtein, specified that his death occurred during the liberation of the territories of the Kursk region, more precisely the border areas.
The information was published in the state agency TASS, which also indicated that memorial events in honor of the deceased Efremov will be held in schools in the Primorsky Krai. There will be homeroom classes dedicated to him, meetings with veterans, and theater performances dedicated to the feat on the battlefield.
Today's publication in TASS is impressive, since it is rare for any information to leak about the dead and wounded on the front in Ukraine, with the exception of a high-ranking military or pro-war blogger who is already publicly known and whose disappearance would raise more questions.
Moreover, this information is not the only one for today. The state agency reported early this morning that the Minister of Youth Affairs and Social Communication of Yakutia, Petr Shamaev, was seriously wounded again while performing a combat mission. Shamaev has signed a military service contract in the fall of 2024.
A third piece of information in TASS, again from this morning, expands on the information about events in Russia that will be held in memory of the heroes of the "special military operation", as Russia euphemistically called its war in Ukraine. From this correspondence it is understood that even Sergei Efremov was the head of the volunteer detachment "Tiger".
The commemorative events will begin before Defender of the Fatherland Day and detailed instructions will be given to schools, assures the Minister of Education of Primorsky Krai Elvira Shamonova. The recommendation is within the hours of "We talk about important things" or "Conversation about important things" to tell children about the feat of the fallen participants in the special military operation, thus honoring their memory on the eve of Defender of the Fatherland Day, which is on February 23.
Interestingly, today the Russian opposition publication "Mediazona" reported a record number of claims for recognition of Russian citizens as missing, which were filed in 2024 - 20,000.
The Russian command does not report data on the number of its victims and wounded in the "special military operation". In fact, only in the last 2-3 months has information about the dead begun to be leaked into the public domain, primarily within the framework of announcements about celebrations, including the celebration of Victory Day, May 9, for which Russia has been preparing since the end of the first month of the year.
Based on open data, the BBC, together with the publication "Mediazona" and a team of volunteers, have identified 80,973 Russian soldiers who died during Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine as of January 2025. The publications base their count on public information and observations of cemeteries. Even according to the publication itself, this is not the actual number of victims.