The Molfar team analyzed the data on purchases of ritual attributes: coffins and autopsy bags. Starting from January 2020 to July 2022, the Russian Federation buries more and more Russians. In total, since the beginning of 2022, the funeral expenses amounted to almost $3 million.
A representative graph for the period from March 2020 to July 2022 shows how much the expenses of the Russian Federation for funeral services have increased. If we compare March-July of each year, then in 2020 $1.3m was spent on tenders, in 2021 costs increased by 7.7% and amounted to $1.4m. However, in the first half of 2022, expenses increased by 100%, and already amounted to $2.8m.
The authorities of the Russian Federation cynically prepared for mass murders and burials. On the eve of a full-scale invasion, in December 2021, the Russian Federation developed a new GOST for the burial of people and animals in wartime and peacetime. According to the new rules, regional executive bodies and local self-government bodies must create reserves of funds for urgent burials, including for the purchase of coffins, autopsy bags, disinfectants, personal protective equipment for the skin and organs of respiration.
If we compare the expenses with the previous year, then in 2022, 100% more was spent on ritual stuff. Presumably, the stuff was purchased in advance because in December 2021, they spent $645k, which is 25% of the total costs for the year.
In which Russian cities are people buying the most coffins?
The sale of ritual stuff is carried out according to the system of tenders. Thus, in order to hide large purchases in certain regions, the Russian authorities resort to manipulation: tenders are won by companies from almost the same regions. So the statistics remain unchanged, and the real picture of the buried people by region remains a mystery.
Of course, it is not people from Moscow or St. Petersburg who are dying for the imperial whims of the Kremlin, but representatives of national minorities from depressed regions of the Russian Federation. Our investigation showed that Buryats were sent to war the most. Although, they make up only 0.3% of the total population. Also, we can see the similar results of the investigation done by our colleagues.
The authorities of Buryatia spent the most on ritual stuff in 2022 – almost 3.9 million rubles. At the same time, in 2021, in the period from February 24 to June 1, no ritual stuff was purchased in Buryatia at all.
Thus, Russia's policy is quite transparent: to carry out ethnic cleansing through the "natural processes" of war against neighboring sovereign states. In addition, after adding Russia to the list of countries engaged in human trafficking, due to the deportation of Ukrainians to territories controlled by the Russian Federation, one more trend of the Russian government can be observed. Under the guise of war, to "steal" as many Ukrainians as possible to populate the depressed regions of the Russian Federation to improve the national gene pool.
