Russia’s high mortality rate has led to a corrupt and highly manipulated funeral industry. This was already the case during the COVID pandemic, but now the sector has scaled and become bigger than ever, writes journalist and researcher Anna Snegireva. Much of the revenue is part of Russia’s shadow economy.

Funeral ceremony for a fallen Russian soldier at a cemetery in the town of Bogoroditsk in the Tula region on March 24, 2023. Photo: ANP / Natalia Kolesnikova / AFP

In August 2025, the mayor of the Russian city Vladimir, just east of Moscow, was arrested for allegedly accepting a bribe from representatives of what investigators described as the local ‘cemetery mafia’. Under Mayor Dmitry Naumov, control over the city’s funeral sector has shifted to a circle of newly appointed officials with business ties to undertakers in the Moscow region. Soon afterward, Vladimir introduced new regulations: private companies were prohibited from using machinery at cemeteries, while municipal workers retained exclusive access to heavy equipment and burial plots. The change triggered long queues, with mourners sometimes waiting hours for graves to be dug.

This is not an isolated case. Nationwide, cemeteries are running out of space, burial costs are climbing, and corruption scandals routinely expose how access to death has become a lucrative - and increasingly contested - resource.

Russia has entered a period of excess mortality, driven by an ageing population, falling birth rates, and military losses – the estimates of independent journalists suggest that more than 219,000 Russian servicemen have been killed in Ukraine. Cemeteries that once handled predictable numbers of interments now face sustained surges; funeral firms expand to meet demand, and the influx of state money tied to military burials creates new incentives for exploitation. 

Overcrowded cemeteries

Across the country, cemetery capacity is becoming critical. In Rostov-on-Don, the largest Russian city near the Ukrainian border, only a single free plot remained in the Northern Cemetery’s ‘Sector of Courage’ as of March 2025. Rows designated for military personnel are nearly filled, despite the vast size of the site.

In Chelyabinsk, burials at the Preobrazhenskoye Cemetery have exceeded monthly averages multiple times over. Administrators expanded two sections to accommodate the influx, and more than 600 military burials have taken place since 2022. Further growth is impossible - the cemetery is surrounded by forest - leaving only a small number of remaining plots. According to one widow, a place on the ‘Alley of Heroes’ was offered to her for 100,000 rubles (1.100 euros).

In Omsk, the local authorities warn that the city’s cemeteries have enough land for no more than a year’s worth of burials. Residents say the final remaining sections are now used almost exclusively for war casualties. Funeral companies advise families to bury relatives in distant rural cemeteries or transport bodies to Novosibirsk, which is 600 km away, due to Omsk’s lack of a functioning crematorium.

The new Kurgan cemetery complex, once expected to last 30–45 years, may fill up within a decade if another mass-mortality event occurs

In Kazan and across Tatarstan, pressure on burial infrastructure surged during the pandemic and has only intensified. The Russian website Business Online reports that in Kazan, deaths rose to 18,500 in 2021 (a 10% increase), exhausting cemetery capacity. Of the city’s 36 cemeteries, only six remain fully open; the rest allow only limited family burials. The new Kurgan cemetery complex, once expected to last 30–45 years, may fill up within a decade if another mass-mortality event occurs. City officials say mortality remains 35% higher than before COVID, and plans to construct a crematorium were postponed due to funding shortages.

Meanwhile, authorities in Moscow are preparing to build what may become the largest cemetery in Europe. According to Kedr.Media, the planned ‘Belye Berezki’ (White Birth Trees) memorial complex will span more than 517 hectares. Local residents oppose the project, saying the city’s burial system has long been over capacity and arguing the development will require clearing roughly 500 hectares of forest.

Russia’s main military cemetery - the ‘Pantheon of the Defenders of the Motherland’ in Mytishchi near Moscow - is expanding as well. Before 2022, it saw only a few dozen burials annually. After the invasion, several hundred military graves appeared, rapidly filling designated sections. The Ministry of Defence approved an expansion of 17 hectares into a neighboring forest.

Funeral agents and the shadow market

Across Russia, funeral agents often reach families before official death notifications arrive. This happens because confidential data about deaths often leaks from hospitals, ambulance crews, and police. In Kaliningrad, a former employee of a funeral company described a standard rate: death information is sold for about 3,000–5,000 rubles (30-55 euros). Agents then steer families toward inflated service packages - adding unnecessary procedures or doubling prices while relatives are in shock. As one worker explained: ‘You can put anything in the invoice… Relatives don’t check.’

Such practices persist because they are profitable and, in many regions, semi-official. Agents frequently work under municipal funeral services or private firms tied to local officials, blurring the line between public authority and the criminal networks entrenched in the sector since the 1990s.

In the south, morgue employees in Krasnodar Krai reportedly ‘stand guard’ at facilities, directing families to affiliated firms and charging illegally for basic procedures such as washing, dressing, and transporting bodies.

The financial scale of Russia’s ‘death industry’ explains these tactics. Meduza’s 2019 investigation estimated Moscow’s funeral market at 14–15 billion rubles annually (155-166 million euros), with 12–14 billion circulating in cash, off the books. A federal audit put the nationwide shadow turnover at 120–150 billion rubles (1.3 to 1.6 billion euros) in 2017, figures which are likely far higher today due to the war in Ukraine.

A federal audit put the nationwide shadow turnover at 120–150 billion rubles in 2017, figures which are likely far higher today due to the war in Ukraine

Corruption follows the money. In Sochi, investigators say a network led by a mayoral adviser and municipal officials extorted 100,000–800,000 rubles (roughly 1,100-8,800 euros) per burial-place allocation; prosecutors counted 79 cases of bribery and say that more than 19.6 million rubles in bribes moved through the scheme in under a year. The case has been brought to trial, with around 900 million rubles (almost 10 million euros) of assets frozen.

In Leningrad Region, residents and local deputies reported pre-poured ‘reserved’ graves selling from a starting price of 110,000 rubles (1200 euros), enforced ‘uniform style’ fees, and demands even for the families of soldiers. This situation only changed after the federal Investigative Committee intervened.

Price of death

Kommersant reports that Russia’s funeral market grew by 12.7% in the first four months of 2025 compared to the same period a year earlier. Nearly 200 new funeral businesses were registered, with the fastest growth taking place in Tatarstan, the Moscow region, and St. Petersburg. According to Important Stories, the average burial cost rose to 59,950 rubles (665 euros) in 2023 - 16% more than the year before.

Inflation has driven prices even higher. The costs of wood, metal, and fuel have risen, and the Russian economy also deals with volatile exchange rates. Sanctions have compounded this: before the war, Russian funeral firms routinely used Italian varnishes and paints, while crematoria relied on equipment from the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Germany. Those supply chains collapsed after 2022, leaving the industry searching for substitutes and pushing the sector into what experts describe as a prolonged ‘transition period’.

Chinese suppliers filled much of the gap. Funeral manufacturers told Okno that up to 99% of components, from coffin fittings to artificial flowers, now come from China. As the yuan strengthens, prices rise further.

In some regions, monopolies distort prices even more. In Volgograd, the funeral company Pamyat dominated the market for years. Its beneficiary, Irina Solovyeva - a wealthy United Russia politician - was widely known in local media as the ‘funeral queen of Volgograd’. During the pandemic, her company’s prices significantly exceeded those in comparable regions, leading to a Federal Antimonopoly Service ruling in 2021 that moved to dismantle its dominance.

Elsewhere, families face steep charges despite legal guarantees for free or cheap burials. In Yekaterinburg, graves theoretically remain free, yet families pay between 75,000 and 300,000 rubles (830-3,320 euros) for digging due to ‘closed cemetery’ schemes and fabricated shortages.

As burial costs rise, more Russians are turning to cremation - a trend now reshaping the funeral market. According to Kommersant, cremation has become the cheaper option, typically costing about half as much as a traditional burial. Industry experts say the shift is driven not by cultural change but by economics: ‘Cremation is now chosen in 60–70% of cases, because it is significantly cheaper’, said Alexei Suloev, president of the Russian Association of Crematoria. However, official data show that cremation has also become substantially more expensive over the course of Russia’s war in Ukraine. From February 2022 to February 2024, the average price rose by about 52%. Although Rosstat did not release comparable figures for previous years, industry insiders note that the shift toward cremation began during the COVID pandemic and has only accelerated since.

A model of the newly built Kurgan cemetery complex near Kazan, Russia. Photo: Wikimedia Commons / Tatarstan.ru / Rustem Kadyrov

War, money and corruption

Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the funeral industry has moved even closer to the state. The news website Important Stories reports that funeral-sector revenue reached 96.7 billion rubles (1.07 billion euros) in 2023 - up 51% compared to five years earlier - driven in part by state compensation for burying servicemen.

Stone workshops report increased demand for expensive materials and full-color portraits on headstones. One craftsman from Altai said families ‘don’t economize’ when using regional payouts or insurance money. Small funeral shops in Siberia also report booming business. Near Irkutsk, one owner said weekly clients increased from 4–7 to 10–15. Many bring photos in military uniform; some ask for discounts ‘for our boys’.

In the words of one funeral worker: ‘It’s sad, but this is a golden time for us’

In some towns, the scale of loss is staggering. Activists in Ust-Kut (Irkutsk region) documented military graves equal to nearly 1% of the town’s population by late 2024. In the words of one funeral worker: ‘It’s sad, but this is a golden time for us’.

Military burials now form a closed ecosystem linked to the Ministry of Defence. As a result, in Moscow and several other regions, families are steered toward designated firms, regardless of their preference. Novaya Gazeta Europe reports that commissariats ‘assist’ families by directing them to specific undertakers - those handling most military burials in the region. Attempts to organize funerals independently often lead to higher costs or pressure from funeral companies within the closed system.

The most severe abuses have surfaced in Perm, where families of fallen soldiers accuse the Perm Military Memorial Complex of demanding payment for free services, refusing to show bodies until contracts were signed, and mishandling remains. One widow reported her husband’s body being mistakenly unloaded 280 km away; the company offered either self-pickup or a 140,000 ruble (1,550 euro) delivery fee.

A similar case was reported in the Samara region, where draft officials pressured a widow to use a specific funeral salon, warning she would otherwise lose compensation. Police ultimately intervened so she could see her husband’s body. 

One widow reported her husband’s body being mistakenly unloaded 280 km away; the company offered either self-pickup or a 140,000 ruble (1,550 euro) delivery fee

Families say state compensation often covers less than half the real cost. Even the simplest funerals cost 70,000–100,000 rubles (775-1,100 euros); on Sakhalin, it covers up to 140,000 rubles (1,550 euros). Lawyers report that many families only discover reimbursement limits after the funeral.

Long before the war, Russia’s funeral industry was one of the country’s most opaque markets. By the late Soviet period, access to morgues and cemetery land already operated through informal networks. After the liberalization of the 1990s, organized crime stepped in to control morgues, cemeteries, and municipal contracts. By the early 2000s, according to the Interior Ministry, up to 60% of the funeral-sector revenue circulated in the shadow economy. In Moscow alone, the illegal turnover reached an estimated 1 billion to 2.1 billion euros a year.

The full-scale invasion of Ukraine scaled all of this up. Military deaths and excess mortality created new revenue streams, from state burial reimbursements to soaring demand for tombstones and cemetery land. At the same time, authorities have made oversight harder. In 2024–2025, Rosstat stopped publishing annual mortality statistics for the first time in its history. Analysts from ISW note that the blackout conceals demographic decline and battlefield losses while shielding a profitable, politically connected industry from scrutiny.

Meanwhile, federal spending on cemetery expansion has nearly tripled during the war in Ukraine, now almost six times higher than in 2020.