No complaining Moscow officials reject allegations by cemetery workers of extortion and corruption against municipal funeral enterprise

More than 30 staff at Moscow’s Nikolo-Arkhangelskoye Cemetery say they’ve faced extortion, intolerable working conditions, and illegal money schemes by their employer, according to a new report by Open Media. The workers stated these allegations in two appeals last December to Artyom Ekimov, the director of the municipal funeral enterprise “Ritual,” and Alexey Nemeryuk, the head of Moscow’s Trade and Services Department.

In their complaints, the cemetery employees cited abuses by the head of Ritual’s branch in Moscow’s Eastern District, Roman Molotkov (who was named in Ivan Golunov’s investigative report “Bad Company: How Businessmen From Southern Russia Seized Control of Moscow’s Funeral Industry, and Who Helped Them Do It”). Workers say the management in the Eastern District branch needs to be replaced.

The staff who appealed to Ekimov and Nemeryuk say Molotkov forces them to file reports with the company crediting work at the cemetery to persons who do not work there. The wages paid for this labor are then transferred to someone named Alexey Klimenko. Administrators at the cemetery say Klimenko works in burials. According to Open Media, he isn’t a full-time staff member at Ritual. Workers say they’re also supposed to transfer money to Klimenko for overpriced services and services that aren’t even listed by the cemetery — all without formal accounting paperwork. 

Employees who refuse to participate in this scheme, staff complain, are either fired or transferred to remote branches of the company. This has reportedly happened with at least six people. Many cemetery workers apparently refused to sign the letter to city officials because of threats that they’d lose their jobs or face “extra-legal” measures. Staff say they tried to discuss the situation with Roman Molotkov. When they went to meet with him, they were searched and during the conversation he activated a device that prevented them from recording their dialog. 

After employees sent off their first complaint, they say they started facing threats at work and management forced them to sign a statement saying they have grievances toward Ritual or Molotkov. Many staff members acquiesced “because they live in conditions of forced dependence on the management,” says Open Russia. Soon after filing their second complaint, workers got a response from Igor Zubtsov, the first deputy head of Moscow’s Trade and Services Department. “The results of an audit did not confirm the violations you indicated,” he said in his letter. Roman Molotkov and Alexey Klimenko declined to comment for Open Russia’s story.