According to Justin McCarthy,Michael Mann, The dark side of democracy: explaining ethnic cleansing, pp. 112–4, Cambridge, 2005 "... figures are derive[d] from McCarthy (1995: I 91, 162–4, 339), who is often viewed as a scholar on the Turkish side of the debate." the Russian aim was to inflict massive Muslim civilian casualties. The victims are put into four categories: 1) battle casualties 2) murders by Bulgarian and Russian troops 3) denial of necessities for life leading to starvation and death from disease 4) death caused by refugee status. Members of the European press who covered the war in Bulgaria reported on the Russian atrocities against Muslims. Witness accounts from Shumen and Razgrad describe children, women and elderly wounded by sabres and lances. They stated that the entire Muslim population of many villages had been massacred.McCarthy, Justin., "Death and Exile: The Ethnic Cleansing of Ottoman Muslims, 1821–1922 "The Darwin Press Inc., Princeton, Sixth Printing 2008, pp.66–67
