Vladimir Putin's cousin was scolded during a live broadcast for divulging "classified" war casualty numbers.
Anna Tsivileva, who is Russia's current Deputy Minister of Defense and a state secretary, was admonished during a statement to the Duma in which she revealed that authorities had received 48,000 DNA test requests from those searching for and identifying missing soldiers.
Tsivileva is the cousin of Putin's first cousin Yevgeny Mikhailovich Putin, making her the Russian leader's cousin-once-removed. She is also referred to at times as Putin's niece.
After she stated those figures Andrey Kartapolov, a member of the Duma said: "I must kindly ask you to refrain from revealing these figures anywhere. This is classified information, quite sensitive.
"And when we draw up the final documents, we also don't want these figures to be floated anywhere."
The Russian Foreign Ministry has been contacted via email for comment.
The broadcast was removed from the Duma's site but had already been shared on social media.
This slip-up by Tsivileva contradicts the Russian policy of not revealing how many soldiers have been lost during the war in Ukraine.
According to Ukrainian intelligence, the Russian army has lost 745,700 soldiers since the start of the war over 1000 days ago.
Newsweek has previously reported figures from Kyiv which suggested October and November were particularly bloody months for the Russian side, losing record numbers of soldiers in the past two months.
During that time, Putin launched a new offensive to maintain Russian controlled territory in the region, incorporating 50,000 troops from North Korea to join their ranks.
Despite their losses, Russia recently made their largest land advancement since 2022, seizing an area of the Donetsk region which is said to be the size of Singapore.
Emil Kastehelmi, from the Finnish-based Black Bird Group, told Newsweek on December 2: "The trend is very worrying, and there's no reason to expect the situation to calm down in December either."
Russia's push to control more land in Ukraine is believed to be part of a strategy to hold onto land prior to an anticipated Trump-negotiated ceasefire where the existing boundaries will be implemented.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told Sky News on November 29 that he would be open to negotiating a ceasefire if Ukraine were given NATO membership. He said NATO membership was needed to guarantee that Putin would not re-invade after they agreed on ending the current state of fighting.
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