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Nemstov allies' report cites Russian involvement in Ukraine

The report may be the reason Nemtsov was killed.

By Ed Adamczyk
Opposition leader Boris Nemtsov (C) was preparing a report on Russian involvement in Ukraine when he was killed in February 2015. A new report, released on Tuesday May 12, 2015, by colleagues of slain activist Boris Nemtsov details how at least 220 Russian soldiers have died in fighting in Ukraine. File Photo by UPI.
Opposition leader Boris Nemtsov (C) was preparing a report on Russian involvement in Ukraine when he was killed in February 2015. A new report, released on Tuesday May 12, 2015, by colleagues of slain activist Boris Nemtsov details how at least 220 Russian soldiers have died in fighting in Ukraine. File Photo by UPI. | License Photo

MOSCOW, May 12 (UPI) -- At least 220 Russian soldiers have died in fighting in Ukraine, a report released Tuesday by colleagues of slain activist Boris Nemtsov said.

Russia has denied its involvement in conflict between the Ukrainian military and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. Nemtsov, a Russian politician critical of President Vladimir Putin, was shot to death as he walked down a Moscow street in February, and there has been speculation the information in today's 64-page report was the cause of his shooting.

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"Putin. War." was published on the Open Russia website, and quantifies what its authors claim is detailed evidence the Russian army has been involved in Ukraine. It details how 150 Russian soldiers were killed in fighting in the Ukrainian town of Ilovaisk in August 2014, and 70 more died in the battle for the strategic rail hub of Debaltseve in February 2015. It also contends Russian troops have played an important and decisive role in the conflict.

The report is largely a compilation of previously-known media reports, but includes information that Nemtsov was approached by parents of some of the Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine, claiming they were denied government compensation because their sons were officially not in combat. The government position, accepted by many in Russia, is that the soldiers were volunteers in Ukraine, using free time and holidays to get involved in the conflict.

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Ilya Yashin, a colleague of Nemtsov, said Tuesday in Moscow the report was the work of Russian patriots who opposed the "isolationist policies of Vladimir Putin. Our audience is not the western public. (It's) those people who get their information from propaganda sources. Our aim is to open their eyes."

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