Soviet War Dead Put at 12,000-15,000
A Soviet official indicated Thursday that 12,000 to 15,000 Soviet soldiers have been killed during the 8 1/2-year war in Afghanistan.
Eduard Rosental, a Novosti press agency political observer, in reply to a question at a news conference, said that an Agence France-Presse estimate of 12,000 to 15,000 deaths was approximately correct.
Soviet officials have refused to specify the death toll in Afghanistan or even the number of Soviet troops deployed there. Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze indicated last month that casualty and troop strength figures would be released when Soviet troops are withdrawn.
A U.S. State Department report released in December estimated the number of deaths and injuries among Soviet troops serving in Afghanistan since 1979 to be “at least 33,000 to 38,000,” with at least a third of them fatalities.
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