I know there is a great deal of controversy over the current number of causualties that the Russian government has suffered in the current Chechen war. Does anyone happen to know how many died in their first war? or is that still under wraps also?
January 7, 2000
The campaign has not gone without a cost. Through all of the attacks, the number of casualties has risen too much for the Russian government to withhold from the press. More reports have occurred of rising fatalities near Grozny, and witnesses have claimed that the first Russian parachute drop near Shatoi on Dec. 17 was almost decimated. According to official Russian reports released Jan.6, 475 Russian troops have been killed and 1,350 wounded, but Chechen accounts put the number at twice that.
http://www.stratfor.com/cis/commentary/c0001072315.htm
I found this pretty quickly at www.stratfor.com you might want to hop over there and do a more thorough search. Their search engine seems to work pretty well.
As reported today in The Blade (Toledo, Ohio), the '94-'96 Chechnya war cost 4,175 lives, a rate of 210 per month over roughly 20 months of war.
As of yesterday, the Russian military acknowledges 910 deaths, equivalent to roughly 240 per month. Over 2,600 wounded are admitted.
These figures are the official statistics, and may be low compared to actual deaths.