Dead Russians Revived

“Buried with full military honors”

“There was an exchange of 37 for 37, and my son was among them. The Ukrainians took his head (from the helicopter crash site) — it survived the fire thanks to his helmet,” the father of the victim recalls with tears. — “My son was true to his word: they were able to ‘capture’ only his remains.” 

In the spring of 2023, the father of Senior Lieutenant Oleg Farniyev gave this interview to the propaganda TV channel Russia Today. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the helicopter with his son, a navigator, was shot down during a combat sortie in April 2022. After that, Farniyev was reported missing for several months.

Farniyev Sr. searched for his son himself and traveled to the territories of Ukraine occupied by the Russian army. “He was informed several times that the remains, presumably those of his son, had been found, but DNA tests disproved it each time,” the RT piece says. Finally, in August 2022, the Defense Ministry handed over the remains to the relatives, posthumously awarding navigator Farniyev the Order of Courage. He was buried in his native land of Ossetia.

And in February 2024, Oleg Farniyev appeared in the published list of prisoners of war (under number 166). As IStories found out, his wife immediately appealed to the Defense Ministry for clarification. She claimed that none of his family members had seen Farniyev’s remains: the coffin was forbidden to be opened, and the results of the DNA tests were not shown to the relatives. 

Two months later, instead of explanations and test results, the serviceman’s wife received a poor reply from the Defense Ministry: “According to the records, Oleg Olegovich Farniyev was buried with full military honors. The serviceman fulfilled his military duty with dignity and honor, and made a significant contribution to the approaching victory over the Ukrainian nationalists.”

Mistakes happen everywhere. But, as IStories revealed, Farniyev's case is far from being unique for the Russian army.

“If it is not him, the money will have to be returned”

In March 2024, IStories found 64 Russian soldiers who had already been buried in Russia in the lists of prisoners. The real number of those buried while alive may be higher.

Additionally, we have become aware of at least six more cases in which relatives of Russian soldiers have found their family members on lists or in photos and videos of prisoners of war. Although their remains — without DNA testing and with a prohibition on opening the coffin — were buried in Russia.

“This is not just my situation. I know the stories of the girls with whom I communicate and with whom we are going through the same path,” the wife of the Russian serviceman told IStories in terms of anonymity. Olga (name changed) is 37 years old and has four children. Her husband voluntarily, not from prison, went to fight in the Wagner PMC in early May 2023 — at the peak of the Bakhmut massacre. He warned that he might not be in touch. A month later, Olga was informed that her husband had died literally the day after he got to the battlefront.

She was not given any details, only told that they had found burnt remains next to his badge and automatic rifle: “They assured me that there could be no mistake. They sent me a closed zinc coffin, which they did not prohibit, but did not recommend opening: ‘How will you live with it later?’ I said: ‘And the fact that I don’t have a husband? That’s a mark on my life too.’ — ‘Well, there will be a tiny window, and you can look through it.’”

The window in the zinc coffin eventually did not exist, and Olga did not receive the results of the DNA test. That is when the first doubts started to creep in, she said. She was able to find more than 10 fighters who confirmed to her that they had seen her husband alive at least until July. And in the fall of 2023, Olga saw her spouse on the video of the soldiers' capture: “I had goosebumps all over my body. Honestly. My hands trembled. I began to live again. Because after the news that my husband was killed, I can't describe what we [together with children] experienced.” Olga is now trying to get the buried remains exhumed in order to have DNA testing done. “Because I am sure that there in the coffin is definitely not my husband,” says the woman. She has written an appeal to the Defense Ministry, but has not yet received a response.

Olga later learned that her husband was never listed as dead in Wagner PMC, but only missing in action. “I was told that those who went missing were ‘closed’ [registered] as dead. So that the company could fulfill its [financial] obligations to the families [and close the issue],” Olga explains. — “It is clear that no one will look for missing persons. There is no person — well, there isn’t. There is such a pipeline, you can’t keep track of everything.”

Olga cannot exhume the body herself, as her spouse's parents are against it. “Someone doesn’t want to disturb [the deceased] for moral reasons. And someone — just because of profit. If it turns out that it is not him, the money [for the death] will have to be returned,” the woman speculates.

Olga suggests that her husband may be afraid to reveal his name in captivity for some reason, or he simply cannot do so for health reasons. And if he is still listed as dead, he will not be included in the lists of prisoners of war, the woman fears.

It makes no practical sense for an ordinary private, not a scout or special services officer, to conceal his identity, a military lawyer told IStories. “If he has already been captured alive, his situation is unlikely to get worse, unless he is wanted for committing atrocious war crimes,” the expert said. The Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War states that a soldier, if not prevented by his physical or mental condition, is obliged to say his personal details in captivity during interrogation. “If a prisoner of war wilfully infringes this rule, he may render himself liable to a restriction of the privileges accorded to his rank or status,” the Article 17 of the convention says.

“No exchange — no prisoner value”

The practice of closed coffins with the remains of servicemen was in the Soviet and then Russian army back in the days of the Afghan and Chechen wars, explains a military lawyer. However, the Defense Ministry cannot prohibit the opening of a coffin, the expert emphasizes. 

According to the latest order of the Minister of Defense on the burial of servicemen, “in the case when the coffin is not expedient to open, in the head part of the lid of the zinc coffin is made a window of 15 x 15 cm, which is hermetically sealed with organic glass, and on the lid of the zinc coffin is made a warning inscription: ‘Not subject to opening,’ which is instructed by persons appointed to escort the coffin.” In addition to the window, a photograph of the deceased should be taken if possible.

However, if the relatives still did not dare to open the coffin before burial, it will not be possible to exhume the body independently. In theory, a case can be initiated either under the article on abuse of the bodies of the dead and their burial places (Article 244 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), or for the destruction or damage to military burials (Article 243.4 of the Criminal Code), explains the lawyer.

According to the Geneva Convention, prisoners of war have the right to contact their families. In addition, it is more profitable for Ukrainians to confirm the fact that a person is in captivity, the expert notes. “As long as no one demands him for an exchange, he is of no particular value to anyone, only budget money is spent on his captivity,” the lawyer explains. — “Ukrainian prisoners are fewer in number than Russian ones, and for them everyone counts.”

According to the expert, relatives of Russian soldiers can apply to the Military Law and Order Service of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and request confirmation that a particular person is really a prisoner of war. With this confirmation, they can then go to the Russian Defense Ministry and seek to have the person recognized as a prisoner of war. After that, it is possible to seek his inclusion in the exchange lists.