A Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War started on 30 September 2015, with 4,000 Russian military personnel being stationed in Syria. The Russian forces also consisted of: 25 strategic bombers, 20 tactical bombers, 12 attack bombers, eight fighter aircraft, 16 attack helicopters and various other aircraft.
As of 20 December 2016, there have been 23 officially and two unofficially confirmed Russian Armed Forces fatalities in the war. Two or three soldiers were reported missing during the Battle of Palmyra, however this was not officially confirmed.
In addition, at least 62 private military contractors (PMCs) belonging to the Russian company "Wagner" were killed or wounded by December 2015. Among these, were three or nine PMCs who were killed in a mortar attack on their position in Latakia province in October 2015. Subsequently, another 10 PMC deaths were reported between November 2015 and June 2016, near Latakia, Damascus, Palmyra and elsewhere.
The following is a list of the fatal casualties among the regular Russian Armed Forces:
The following is a list of the confirmed fatal casualties among the PMCs:
Black Sea crash 25 Dec. 2016: 80
TOTAL: 80
On 25 December 2016, a Russian military Tupolev Tu-154 with 92 people on board crashed in the Black Sea during a flight from Sochi International Airport, Russia to Khmeimim, Syria. There were no survivors. Among those killed were: 64 members of the Alexandrov Ensemble choir, nine journalists, eight crew members, eight other passenger soldiers, two federal civil servants and a prominent Russian humanitarian worker.