Novosibirsk officials dispute who pays for burial of unidentified persons
A separate cemetery section is allocated for individuals whose identity cannot be determined.
The Novosibirsk Municipal Institution «Ritual Services» lost a lawsuit against the Social Fund of Russia (SFR) in the region—the Social Fund refused to compensate the costs of burying «unidentified persons». In 2025, the municipal institution was unable to receive payments from the guaranteed list for the burial of 16 unknown individuals.
The reason was changes in legislation. Now the municipal institution is required to provide personal data of the deceased: full name, passport number, SNILS (Russian individual insurance account number) and date of birth. In the case of unknown individuals, this information is mostly unavailable.
Last year, Novosibirsk buried more than 70 people whose identities were not established. We spoke with an expert about whether the changes in the law will affect the burial of «unidentified persons»—read more about the conflict in the cards in our Telegram channel.
Meanwhile, city cemeteries are running out of space. The necropolises are almost 90% full, even though they are regularly expanded.
