While the Kremlin continues to promote images of heroism and patriotic sacrifice, reports like RFE/RL’s paint a far grimmer picture – one of bureaucratic negligence, logistical collapse, and the quiet suffering of thousands of families.
As Russia’s war in Ukraine drags into its fourth year, the burden of loss is becoming more traumatic and grotesque for grieving families across the country. According to a harrowing report by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, relatives of dead Russian soldiers are increasingly being forced to open sealed zinc coffins themselves, often with power tools, due to the military’s failure to manage proper burial procedures.
In towns across Siberia and Russia’s Far East, the return of soldiers’ bodies, once a tightly controlled and ceremonious process, has devolved into chaos. The coffins, often arriving unannounced and with no military personnel present, are frequently sealed in zinc with stern warnings not to open them. However, many families, desperate for closure or suspicious of the remains’ authenticity, choose to cut open the coffins themselves, sometimes in the presence of local morgue workers or relatives.
The report cites multiple morgue workers and family members who describe gruesome scenes: the stench of decay, the sight of mangled remains, and the trauma of encountering a loved one in an advanced state of decomposition. In one case, a morgue staffer recalled how two families in Khabarovsk brought their sons’ coffins and insisted on transferring the bodies to local caskets. They had prepared tools for the task but lost their nerve at the last moment. “They asked me to do it,” the worker told RFE/RL. “Cutting open a zinc coffin with an angle grinder is not for the faint-hearted. The body inside was terribly cold… It was horrific.”
Respect for the deceased?
These incidents highlight not just individual grief but the collapse of military infrastructure under the strain of mass casualties. Officially, Russia keeps its wartime death toll classified, but Western estimates suggest over 100,000 troops may have been killed since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022. Russia’s morgue and military transport systems, especially in rural regions, are reportedly overwhelmed, leading to a breakdown in even the most basic protocols for handling human remains.
For many families, the question of whether the body in the coffin is truly their relative haunts them. Russia’s Defence Ministry often instructs local officials and families not to open zinc-sealed coffins, citing health risks and “respect for the deceased.” But RFE/RL’s report underscores widespread distrust in the official process. Some families have discovered that the wrong body was shipped to them. Others found empty coffins. These cases fuel suspicion and desperation, especially when accompanied by vague or contradictory information from military officials.
One woman from the Irkutsk region told RFE/RL that she was warned not to open her son’s coffin. “They said it’s not allowed, that it’s dangerous. But we had doubts—it didn’t even weigh that much.” Her family ended up opening it anyway and were devastated to confirm that the body was her son’s. “It wasn’t just about seeing him—it was about knowing. Otherwise, how do you mourn?”
The use of zinc coffins – airtight, heavy, and historically used in the Soviet era to transport bodies from war zones – has become symbolic of the impersonal, bureaucratic nature of wartime death in Russia. But unlike Soviet times, there is now far less ceremony or support for grieving families. RFE/RL’s investigation reveals that in many cases, families must arrange transport themselves, sometimes waiting days for paperwork or scrambling to find local officials who know what to do.
Psychological trauma
One mortuary technician in the city of Chita described how poorly handled many of these situations have become. “There are no guidelines, no officials coming to help. Just a grieving mother or father with a grinder, trying to make sure it’s really their son inside.”
The emotional cost of these experiences is incalculable. Psychological trauma, already a looming issue for soldiers returning from the front, is now extending to families at home. Mental health services in rural areas are nearly non-existent, and local officials are reportedly ill-equipped to help with the scale of the grief.
While the Kremlin continues to promote images of heroism and patriotic sacrifice, reports like RFE/RL’s paint a far grimmer picture – one of bureaucratic negligence, logistical collapse, and the quiet suffering of thousands of families. Advocacy groups and independent watchdogs say the handling of fallen soldiers’ remains reflects a deeper failure: a system that cannot, or will not, dignify the dead.
As one human rights monitor told RFE/RL, “This isn’t just about logistics – it’s about dignity. These families have already lost everything. And now they’re being forced to cut open their sons’ coffins with tools like mechanics. It’s barbaric.”
The Russian government has not responded directly to the claims in the report, but the Defence Ministry has previously insisted that all casualties are returned in accordance with proper protocol. Still, the growing number of testimonies paints a very different reality, one where closure comes not with a ceremony, but with the whirring of an angle grinder and the courage to face what lies inside.
Image: RFE/RL
