Today, 35 years ago, on May 8, 1990 (April 14, 1990), the Soviet Union announced the latest number of civilian casualties in the War of the Guard. The Soviet Union¡¯s First Deputy Minister of International Affairs, General Lushev, told TASS reporters on May 8, 1990 that the total number of civilians lost in the War of the Guard was between 27 million and 28 million. Lushev said that the total number of soldiers killed, seriously wounded and not returned in combat was 866,000, and 18 million were wounded or ill. Prior to this, the official Soviet Union had published three numbers: Stalin in 1946 said that the Soviet Union had lost 7 million in the War of the Guard. Shortly thereafter, the Soviet Union officially announced the loss of 15 million.