INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Russian courts received a record 20,040 petitions to declare individuals missing or dead last year, the independent news website Mediazona
reported Monday, citing court documents.The figure is more than double the approximate 8,600 court filings in 2023, which Mediazona said was
in line with annual numbers before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.Journalists linked the surge to the Russian
unit rosters and accelerate recruitment.Such rulings also allow the military to halt salary payments to families
While salaries continue if a soldier is listed as missing, they stop once a court formally declares them missing or dead.Families are
eligible for 5 million rubles ($50,000) in compensation only if a court separately declares a soldier dead.Mediazona said the majority of
avoid publicity by concealing claimants and withholding decisions
than a week after Mediazona and BBC Russia verified the names of more than 91,000 Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine since the start of the
invasion nearly three years ago.
