Russia's Funeral Industry Booms Amid Rising Deaths From Ukraine War

RFE
26 Jun 2025, 04:28 GMT+10

As Moscow's invasion of Ukraine heads into its fourth summer, Russias funeral industry is experiencing a sharp and telling boom.

While official combat death statistics are hidden from public view, some Russians have taken to social media to highlight the skyrocketing cost of burial services in a funeral market that is growing fast.

According to the Russian newspaper Kommersant, the funeral services market in Russia grew by 12.7 percent in the first four months of 2025 compared to the same period the previous year.

Nearly 200 new funeral-related businesses opened in that period with the fastest growth reported in Tatarstan, the Moscow region, and St. Petersburg.

The surge comes amid public complaints about rising burial costs since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The price of grave digging, coffin construction, and headstones have all soared.

The cost of a coffin in April increased by 9 percent to roughly $100, and grave digging was up 15 percent to about$150,according to the Russian government statistical office, Rosstat.

'I Paid For Everything Myself''

Some grieving families of Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine have complained that the state's promises of financial support are not being fulfilled.

"I paid for everything myself," one woman -- whose father died in combat near the Ukrainian town of Pokrovsk -- said on social media.

"There was no burial service, no death benefits. No one came, not even a representative from the military commissariat or the brigade where he served."

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