Report on Russian airstrike deaths in Syria called ‘the speculations of human rights rogues’

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov says a report on civilian deaths from Russian airstrikes Syria is based on “the speculations of British human rights rogues.” The report is published by the Airwars Monitoring Group, a non-profit watchdog group dedicated to tracking the international air campaigns—conducted by both Russian and coalition forces—against Islamic State and other groups, in Iraq and Syria.

“What we have here is a new incarnation the same British ‘whistle-blowers’ from other castaway outfits such as the ‘Syrian Observatory for Human Rights’ and the like,” said Konashenkov.

“This particular renewal, from an ‘assortment’ of British ‘analysts,’ is a primitive operation at the level of beginner-students who are mastering the basics of marketing at a provincial college,” said the Defense Ministry representative.

Konashenkov also noted that members of the Airwars Monitoring Group had collaborated with Bellingcat, a British-based group that pointed to Russian involvement in the tragic downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH-17 over Ukraine.

The Airwars Monitoring Group released the report in late March. Titled “A Reckless Disregard for Civilian Lives,” the report summarizes the first three months of Russia's air campaign in Syria. The report says it has “credible indications from open source data” that Russian airstrikes killed between 1,098 and 1,450 civilians in 192 separate events between September 30 to December 31, 2015.

In total, the group estimates that Russia's military presence has resulted in 1,826 and 2,426 civilian non-combatant deaths and more than 1,700 injuries. The group's website lists the names of 1,326 victims.

Defense Ministry spokesman Konashenkov lambasted Russian language news organizations that picked up the Airwars report story. He implied their news coverage of the report proved the organizations were not to be trusted.