Why Russians are dying says a lot about Russia and its regime

Even before the increase in mortality rates among Russians in the first quarter of this year, Russians were dying in ways that highlight serious problems with that country’s medical services and the behavior of its population, according to data published by the Russian State Statistical Committee (Rosstat). [Because of Putin's new secrecy law, it is unclear how Rosstat is treating Russian military losses in Ukraine in their report. Could they be included under the category of  "Deaths from pneumonia," which seems unnaturally large? Due to the discovery of antibiotics almost a century ago, in other countries pneumonia is not a terminal illness. Feel free to offer your own guess in the comments section below or on Facebook and Twitter. - Ed.] In reporting on this, the Meduza.io portal says that the Rosstat data do provide some good news: Although 1.9 million Russians died in 2014, not one of those did so from cholera, typhus, or plague. But Russians died from circulatory illnesses (the most common explanation) and old age. The portal provides a selection of data on some of the causes of deaths among Russians that it suggested were especially “indicative” of domestic situation in Russia (click on the image to expand):