MOSCOW. Dec 7 (Interfax-AVN) - The official list naming all of the Russian servicemen killed during the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict in August 2008 has not been published, the director of the Center for Strategies and Technologies Analysis, Ruslan Pukhov, said.
"The Defense Ministry of Russia has not yet published its official list of those killed in this war. Their surnames have not been disclosed. Regrettably, the Investigative Committee has not published its list, either," Pukhov said.
The situation for the armies of South Ossetia and Abkhazia is the same, he said.
"Even approximate combat losses sustained by irregular military units of South Ossetia and volunteers who arrived in the conflict zone from Russia have not been announced," the analyst said.
The absence of the Defense Ministry's official list "has been complicated by controversial figures given by officials," who at different periods put the number of servicemen killed during the conflict between 48 and 74, he said.
"Today, the final official number confirmed by the Investigative Committee is 67 soldiers. It includes both those killed during the August 8-12 hostilities and those killed during the post-war period, before the withdrawal of forces was launched," he said.
The authors of the book "The Five-Day War", dedicated to the 2008 events, used indirect information to identify all of the servicemen killed and their military ranks, Pukhov said.
"We have not published their surnames for ethic considerations, but we have mentioned their military ranks," he said.
The Georgian Defense Ministry, however, published its official list of all of the servicemen who were killed or went missing less than a month after the war ended, Pukhov said.
"It is quite a detailed list. Apart from names and surnames, it also offers information about killed soldiers' rank and place of military service. Subsequently, it has regularly been clarified and provides with more information as identification efforts continued. We studied this list and concluded that the information offered by it is full and accurate," he said.
The French and German-language versions of the book "The Five-Day War" are due to come out next week.