A blurry photo shows a man apparently being forced to kneel in the snow by two other men in plain clothes.
Released by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) last week, the image allegedly shows the moment a 48-year-old man was arrested in Yaroslavl, some 250 kilometers northeast of Moscow, for “secretly taking photos and videos” of graves of soldiers killed in Ukraine.
The case is the latest in a series in which people have faced treason charges for recording images of Russian military graves.
In late June, authorities in the Tomsk region in Siberia, announced that “several” people had been detained for gathering information about Russian soldiers, including war dead, in exchange for cash payments.
Two similar cases have also been recorded in the Sverdlovsk region, where two suspects have been accused of sending their “handlers” for the equivalent of around $1 dollar per shot.
A man is detained after allegedly taking photos of war graves in Russia's Yaroslavl region.
In Yekaterinburg, the regional capital, authorities said security patrols were being beefed up at cemeteries “so that people who are being targeted by recruiters [seeking photos of graves] understand that this is not a harmless matter -- it is a crime that can result in real punishment.”
In most cases, the FSB alleges that the suspects were working for Ukrainian handlers.
Graves As Evidence Of Casualties
Photographs of graves have been a source of information for journalists and human rights groups seeking to assess the numbers of Russians killed fighting in Ukraine -- figures that the Russian authorities are keen to keep quiet.
There are various estimates of the extent of fatalities.
In May, a British intelligence chief said nearly 500,000 Russian soldiers had been killed since the Kremlin launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. A report by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) last month put the figure at 450,000.
“The Kremlin has made every effort to hide the actual number of fatalities,” CSIS analyst Seth Jones told RFE/RL earlier this year. “The Russian military has performed worse than any major military we looked at in the last century.”
SEE ALSO:
Deserted Or Dead? Russian Military Saves Money By Declaring Missing Soldiers AWOLThe CSIS cites interviews with US, Ukrainian, and European officials as well as on-the-ground reporting from Mediazona, an independent Russian news outlet classified as a “foreign agent” by the Russian authorities.
It has recorded the names of 236,000 Russian soldiers that it says it has confirmed died in Ukraine. In May, it’s estimate of the actual number of war dead was some 350,000.
“For us, going to cemeteries was a pretty important source of information,” Mediazona editor Dmitry Treshchanin told Current Time. “Never before has this been interpreted as treason.”
Treason cases have been on the rise in Russia since the start of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Scammers Target Families
Treshchanin said that, leaving aside the official interest in covering up the number of war dead, the latest cases come amid efforts by scammers to target families who have lost relatives in the fighting.
This can involve contacting them with false information that their loved one was actually captured by Ukrainian forces -- and seeking money to secure their release. Photos of graves can help find victims to target.
SEE ALSO:
'The State Will Eat You': Russia Enters The Era Of The Treason Verdict“They have written to me asking for names of the dead,” Treshchanin said, adding that the situation was creating a new danger for volunteers who take photos of graves for open-source investigations.
“They’re in incredible danger. They could get a jail term of between 12-20 years for these photos,” he said.
In the case in Yaroslavl, prosecutors say the suspect began taking photos and videos in October 2024.
“The Yaroslavl resident sent the information via Messenger to the Ukrainian special services,” said a statement posted by the court, adding that the case would be heard behind closed doors.
Treshchanin said suspects could easily be framed by the FSB offering them money to take photos.
“The scammers don’t even need to exist. You assign someone a task and then you ‘uncover’ the crime they supposedly planned,” he said.
Getting firsthand evidence of Russian war dead from cemeteries has now become a much riskier activity. But there are other ways, including publications of death notices in official Russian sources or media, social media posts by friends or family members, or information about funerals.