World War II casualties of the Soviet Union from all related causes were over 20,000,000, both civilians and military, although the statistics vary to a great extent largely because these figures are currently disputed. During the Soviet era information on casualties was considered top secret, later in the Glasnost period information on Soviet World War II casualties was published. In 1993 a study by the Russian Academy of Sciences estimated total Soviet population losses due the war at 26.6 million, including military dead of 8.7 million calculated by the Russian Ministry of Defense. These figures have been accepted by most historians outside of Russia. However the figure of 8.7 million military dead has been disputed by some historians in Russia because it is in conflict with the officia