Russia 200
project to track confirmed Russian military fatalities in Ukraine
Russia 200 («Россия 200»; website: 200.zona.media) is a collaborative journalism project run by Mediazona, BBC Russian Service, and a team of volunteers, which since May 2022 has maintained a named list of confirmed Russian military casualties during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. The name alludes to "Cargo 200" (груз 200), Soviet military terminology for transporting a fallen soldier's remains to their burial site.
By February 2026, the fourth anniversary of the invasion, the project's website had recorded more than 200,000 confirmed entries.
Description
The project is a named database compiled from open sources: obituaries on social media, regional news reports, statements from local authorities, and photographs and interviews from burial sites. The list covers only Russian citizens; rules for including casualties from Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) formations are described in the Methodology section.
The named list is one of several approaches to counting Russian casualties. Separately, Meduza and Mediazona developed a statistical estimation method based on Russia's inheritance registry: since a probate filing confirms the applicant's death, this source captures deaths not reflected in open sources and yields substantially higher overall estimates.
The project's authors estimate that the named list captures between 45 and 65 percent of the actual death toll.
Background
The project is run jointly by Mediazona, BBC Russian Service, and a team of volunteers. The composition of the volunteer team is not disclosed in the project's public materials.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Russia 200” as project to track confirmed Russian military fatalities in Ukraine. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as project to track confirmed Russian military fatalities in Ukraine. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q138497148. None of the 3 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2022 and 2026.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Russia 200”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Russia 200 primary sources, Russia 200 archive and Russia research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Russia 200”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Russia 200” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.