• Families of Russian troops killed in Ukraine and Syria to receive $80,000.
• Russia has been silent on the death of its soldiers and members of the National Guard.
• Western officials and military observers say the death toll is much higher.

A Russian order announced on Monday that the families of troops of Russia’s National Guard who died in Ukraine and Syria will receive a one-time payment of five million rubles ($80,000).

The decree signed by President Vladimir Putin said the payments would also be received by families of those who were killed during a “special military operation” in Ukraine’s breakaway regions of Donetsk and Lugansk.

In 2016, Putin created the National Guard, or Rosgvardia, to maintain public order and fight terrorism. The force reports directly to him.

Read more: Worried about Russia, Finnish women sign up to learn defence skills

Russia has been tight-lipped on the number of its soldiers and members of the National Guard killed in Ukraine and Syria.

On March 25, the Russian defence ministry said that 1,351 troops were killed in Ukraine, although Western officials and military observers say the death toll is much higher.

On February 24, Putin sent troops to pro-Western Ukraine in a conflict that has killed thousands of people and created the biggest refugee crisis in Europe since World War II.

Putin dispatched Russian troops to Syria in 2015 to back Bashar al-al-Assad’s regime.

Read more: The US ambassador to Russia has urged Russia not to close its mission