Russia’s Interior Ministry has quietly stopped publishing data on deaths from criminal activity, according to analysts at the Esli Byt Tochnym (We’re Being Precise) project. The ministry’s crime statistics reports for January–June and January–May 2025 omitted fatality figures that had been routinely included for years. The data gap comes amid broader efforts by Russian authorities to limit public access to mortality statistics as the country’s war in Ukraine continues to generate significant military casualties.
Earlier this month, Russia’s Federal Statistics Agency (Rosstat) began withholding broader demographic data — including births, deaths, marriages, and divorces — that covers the period from March 2025 onward. Independent researchers had used these official statistics to estimate Russian military losses in Ukraine. Meduza’s own analysis found that Russia’s excess male mortality nearly doubled in 2023 compared to 2022.
The last available Interior Ministry data, released in April 2025, showed approximately 7,100 deaths from criminal causes between January and April — a 1.3 percent decline from the same period in 2024. These figures typically include not only homicide victims but also deaths from safety violations and other criminal incidents. In May 2025, demographer Alexey Raksha noted that Rosstat was now concealing regional demographic statistics.