Thread by @ChrisO_wiki

1/ Relatives of Russian soldiers killed in the war in Ukraine are finding that they are unable to obtain compensation due to a "no body, no case" policy. Many dead Russians have not been retrieved, or their bodies have been completely destroyed, making retrieval impossible. ⬇️

2/ The independent Russian news outlet Verstka reports on how relatives, commanders and prosecutors are bringing civil cases to have soldiers declared dead so that compensation can be awarded. At least 176 such cases have reached the Russian courts.

3/ Most of the known cases (126) have been brought by commanders and prosecutors, while the remaining 50 were brought by relatives. Courts can declare that a person went missing under “circumstances that threatened death,” and therefore died.

4/ This is often necessary when there is not enough left of the deceased to identify. In one case, a 50-year-old physical education teacher with no combat experience signed a volunteer's contract at the end of July 2022 and was almost immediately made a tank commander.

5/ He died on 4 October 2022 in a battle near Nova Kakhovka in the Kherson region when he was hit by a shell while leaning out of his tank. His comrades saw him reduced to fragments, but could not retrieve his remains.

6/ The man's 18-year-old son brought a case in May 2023 to have his father declared dead, and won. In August 2023, the man's bones were brought back to Russia along with those of dozens of other soldiers retrieved from the battlefield.

7/ Similar cases have been brought in relation to soldiers who suffered direct hits from artillery and missiles, as well as those whose remains were left in Ukrainian-held territory after failed assaults, or who could not be recovered because of incoming fire.

8/ Such litigation is posing challenges for the Russian courts. The man's wife, Zhanna, says "there are few such precedents, in our court such cases have never been considered before, so the judge asked to bring more and more new documents."

9/ Many soldiers have been listed as 'missing in action' with no resolution on their status. The case of Vasily Sukhanov from Shlisselburg provides one example. Originally a navy man, he was mobilised into the 25th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade in late 2022.

10/ His mother Elena says that Vasily's commander "out of personal hostility one day" transferred him to a Storm Z assault brigade. "[Vasily] initially told me: this is a one-way ticket. I won’t return from there". A few days later, on 21 August, he was killed.

11/ Elena says: "The body has still not been brought home for burial, they keep telling us that there is a grey area [no man's land] there. With all this, they suggested we file a lawsuit to declare him dead, and supposedly his grave would be made there.

12/ "I want to get my son back home; he has a little three-year-old daughter and a wife." Vasily's commander has declined to help, saying "No body, no case." Appeals to the Russian Ministry of Defence and the Leningrad regional governor have been fruitless.

13/ Another example of that of Vyacheslav Dikarev from the Kaliningrad region, who went missing in action in August 2022, two weeks after joining the BARS volunteer detachment. His wife Victoria brought a case in April 2023 seeking to have him declared dead.

14/ His commander had stricken him from the list of active personnel on 28 August 2022 "due to death" but the military prosecutor's office ordered him to be listed as missing instead.

15/ The court rejected her case, leaving Victoria furious and unable to support herself and her child. "I've just been told to fuck off, to put it bluntly. I'm very angry at our Russian Federation, damn it." The authorities have so far done little to help her.

16/ Like many other Russians with missing relatives, she has had to trawl Ukrainian websites with pictures of the dead in an attempt to locate her husband's body.

17/ "Sitting constantly on these fucking Ukrainian websites and among these pictures of intestines that they post, looking for my husband, well, that's also... can you imagine? I looked every day to see if they'd post something, at least a body.

18/ "So that my subconscious made me realise: Vic, that's it, that's it. And if they don't find the body? How am I supposed to live? What am I now? I'm not a widow, but I'm not a wife either."

Sources:
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🔹 verstka.media/kak-rossiyane-…
t.me/ostorozhno_nov…