While the State Duma postponed adopting a new law “On funeral services,” the main interested parties – Ritual and the Center for Memorial Services – decided to take the relatives of the deceased under duress, didn’t they?
According to a Moscow Post correspondent, for the first time in many years after Easter, when people traditionally visit cemeteries, the demand for graves maintenance and other funeral services fell. Observers attribute this to unprecedented price increases and increased competition in this segment of the market.
Another indirect reason for alarming events in the funeral business may be the fact that the State Duma postponed until the fall consideration of a new bill “On funeral business,” the beneficiaries of which are considered to be SBS “Ritual” and brothers Valerian and Lev Mazaraki. There were also suggestions that the bill could be lobbied through Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin and businessmen close to him.
The authors of the Telegram channel “Ritulka Rossii,” claim that “pressure” has already begun to be exerted on funeral bureaus in the Moscow region and several regions of Russia.
Struggle for the other world
There are clear signs that in the market of ritual services the “fermentation” of minds has begun. According to the authors of the Telegram channel “Ritulka Rossii”, allegedly, the management of the state funeral service “Ritual” in Moscow and the state funeral service “Center of memorial services” (“CMU”) in Moscow region have sent new instructions to their subordinates to funeral agents, the key point of which is mandatory video recording of what is happening during negotiations with relatives of the deceased, representatives of commercial funeral homes, as well as with the police.
It is noteworthy that we are talking about “112 visits”, that is, apparently, the cases when 112 service employees hand over the addresses of the deceased person’s family to the SBU “Ritual”. Photo: t.me/fsb_boutique/
“Crews, ON REQUIREMENTS, are strictly forbidden to leave an address without coordinating with dispatch. DO NOT sit in the car or stand in the driveway. Try to establish direct contact with relatives and bring them into contact with the control room,” the authors of the Telegram channel “Ritualka Rossii” claim that the above-mentioned instructions allegedly include such a directive.
Putting yourself in the place of people suffering from bitterness of loss, who may now be pestered by ritual agents with persistent requests to contact a dispatcher, anyone would probably immediately feel a rush of indignation.
But, apparently, this is the new tactic of mastering the market, which is being implemented by Artem Yekimov, the head of the “Ritual” and his faithful associates in the funeral business, Valerian and Lev Mazaraki.
Artem Yekimov, head of the Ritual, previously worked as a senior operative of the Main Department of Economic Security and Anti-Corruption Action of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Photo: rbc.ru
According to the authors of the Telegram channel “Ritual”, the instructions for the agents of the SBU “Ritual” say that they are required to collect information on third party agents who come on a call and record their business cards and brochures, and in case of refusal from relatives of the deceased to pass this information to the duty officer of the security service.
How the security service of the ritual office can dispose of this kind of information is creepy to think about. By the way, The Moscow Post has recently published details of one such meeting, held in Voskresensk, Moscow region, where the representatives of “Memorial Service Center” refused to move their car until a relative of the deceased signed his refusal.
Business at the graveyard
Representatives of SBU “Ritual” and SBU “CMU” obviously did not become active by accident. Presumably they intend over the summer to strengthen their positions and maximally spread their influence in regions of the country, so that by the fall, when deputies will finally get to consideration of a new draft law “On funeral business”, they would present an ideal (in understanding of funeral state structures) funeral market.
What they may be ready to do to achieve this goal, you can judge already today.
The employees of funeral companies in Rostov-on-Don can visit the cemetery only with the relatives of the deceased. This is reported by the publication “Union of Russian Business”. This has made it practically impossible for them to fulfill their work, because the relatives of the deceased address to the specialists, as they can not arrive to the cemetery or are not able to clean up the tombs.
It is also reported that the power of attorney is required to certify at the notary, if a relative of the deceased personally can not control the process. Journalists found out that there are no unified regulations about permission to work. But there is an assumption about “where the wind blows” – most likely, from the municipal organizations working in the ritual sphere, supported by the high-ranking officials.
And why not? If in Moscow and Moscow region this is the case, then, as they say, what is worse than periphery?
One of the active lobbyists of the new law “About funeral business,” the Duma deputy Svetlana Razvorotneva, is not stingy with shocking stories about the funeral business. For example, in her interview to “AiF” she told how the head of a municipal enterprise in Petrozavodsk, who tried to bring order to the market, walked around in a bulletproof vest for several months. “There will be very harsh criticism, because people (impure ritualists. – ed.) have something to lose. They are in the shadows, do not pay taxes, pay pennies to the homeless who dig their graves, and make millions on it. The business is gray, and a lot of money is made on people’s grief.
Svetlana Razvorotneva became one of the most active promoters of the new bill “On Funeral Service. Photo: rbc.ru
Svetlana Razvorotneva believes that in the regions this industry is controlled by criminal gangs, but in the state institutions there can be nothing like that. Unfortunately, the real representatives of the market of ritual services do not agree with her. Here is just the latest news.
According to the authors of the Telegram channel “Boutique FSB”, allegedly the military prosecutor’s office of the Russian Federation had a video recording of the transfer of a bribe of two million rubles for the patronage of one of the ritual firms in 2017 to the ex-employee Marat Medoev through intermediaries. This was actually the reason Medoev was summoned to the carpet and subsequently fired!
We have been informed that the military prosecutor’s office of the Russian Federation has video recordings of the transfer of a bribe of two million rubles for the patronage of one of the ritual firms in 2017 to Marat Medoev, ex-assistant chief of the Federal Security Service in Moscow and Moscow region, through intermediaries, and presumably this is what caused Medoev to be called “to the carpet” and his subsequent dismissal! And the authors of the Telegram channel “Ritulka Rossii” claim that allegedly the adoption of the new bill “On Funeral Business” representatives of the “Mazaraki Empire” lobbied through Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin and businessmen close to him.
It is easy to say that all this is gossip, but real life examples make you listen to them.
Exorbitant prices
“Kommersant” quotes Ilya Boltunov, head of Zhuravly funeral homes, as saying that demand for memorial services, including installation of monuments and care of graves, has fallen by 80% year-on-year in the country as a whole since the beginning of April. He even compared the situation to the fall in demand in 2020, when cemeteries were closed to visitors because of the pandemic.
Representatives of the ritual companies “Zhuravly” and “Favorit” also explained to reporters that they themselves have been forced to raise the prices of their services because of the sharp increase in the prices of necessary equipment and transport. For example, the granite used for the production of tombstones increased in price several times, and the services of masons – by 30%. Coffins also rose in price due to rising wood prices and logistics, and, accordingly, about 30% jumped in price overall for funerals.
It is interesting that such a major player of the funeral services market in Moscow as the State Budgetary Institution “Ritual” did not reply to Kommersant’s inquiry.
It is possible that the press-secretary of SBU “Ritual” Mikhail Shitenkov kept silent, because he was busy with filming another video-reportage, devoted to the activity of his employer and the benefits of the new bill. This topic has also recently been the subject of The Moscow Post.
Then the editorial office received evidence of how representatives of the “Ritual” were involved in this kind of filming. There will probably be many more such videos by fall. Obviously, the process of lobbying for the bill is entering its active phase.
Source: The Moscow Post
