President Vladimir Putin has declared all deaths of Russian soldiers during "special operations" to be classified as a state secret, in a move that comes as Moscow stands accused of sending soldiers to fight in eastern Ukraine.
An order signed by President Putin on Thursday makes it a criminal offence to divulge information about the peacetime loss of its soldiers. The order comes amid mounting evidence of the involvement of Russian troops in the over year-long conflict in Ukraine.
Last week, Moscow-based opposition activists published a report on the deaths of members of an elite Russian army reconnaissance unit, whom they claim were killed while on duty in eastern Ukraine.
Vadim Korovin and Ruslan Leviev say their report, which involved exhaustive investigations and photos of the soldiers' graves, proves that the men were serving members of the Russian military at the time of their deaths on May 5, and not volunteers.