Missing pensioner in St. Petersburg out of contact since December

In the Primorsky District of St. Petersburg, authorities have been unable to find 80-year-old Lyudmila Fyodorovna Ilyina for about a month. She lives at house 33 on Savushkina Street. As local resident Oksana, who took in the pensioner«s cat for fostering, told the publication, contact with the woman was lost at the end of December.

According to the source, Lyudmila Ilyina, who dedicated many years to working at the State Hermitage Museum, last answered phone calls on December 26. By December 29, neither colleagues nor acquaintances could reach her.

On the same day, a friend of the pensioner, Marina Anatolyevna, came to her apartment with keys. One door was opened, but the second was locked from the inside with a bolt. Despite this, police and emergency service (EMERCOM) officers who arrived on the call refused to break it open.

After December 29, emergency services, including the local police officer, were called to this address several more times—on January 3 and later. However, as Oksana claims, no active measures were taken.

“Everyone in the district is aware of the situation, but no one is taking responsibility to break into the apartment. Formally, there is no paper application,” explained the St. Petersburg resident.

It is known that shortly before her disappearance, Lyudmila Ilyina was dismissed from the Hermitage, where she worked almost until she was 79. Oksana suggests that this event could have seriously undermined the mental state of the elderly woman. Colleagues from the museum sent appeals to law enforcement agencies, but they were submitted electronically.

The half-sister of the pensioner«s deceased daughter, Marina, reported that she filed a missing person report with the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) through the online reception and received a notification of its acceptance.

“I don«t know what to do next. I spoke with a police officer—he said that until a corpse smell appears, they have no right to break into the apartment. I have keys to the apartment, but Lyudmila Fyodorovna locked herself from the inside. At the same time, I have no rights to the apartment, so I cannot insist on its opening,” the woman said.

A representative of the Hermitage, who, according to the publication, was involved in helping to organize the appeals, was unavailable for comment at the time of publication.