The government has approved a simplified procedure for issuing certificates of death or missing persons of war participants in Ukraine. This follows from the resolution that TASS and RIA Novosti have at their disposal.
According to the document, death certificates will be able to be issued not only by medical organizations, but also by commanders of military units. They will have to report the death of a serviceman to the registry office or the MFC “to simplify and speed up the appointment of payments and support measures to the relatives” of participants in the invasion of Ukraine.
A death certificate is issued if “the death of a serviceman is beyond doubt, but the issuance medical certificate is impossible for some reason,” the resolution states.
The Cabinet of Ministers explained that the death certificate will be enough for relatives to “initiate the procedure for recognizing the fighters as dead” through the court to receive payments and other social support.
If the commander did not provide information about the death, then the court may declare the serviceman missing “at the request of interested parties.” Three months after the court decision comes into force, the missing person may be declared dead.
“If events occurred that give reason to assume death, for example, disappearance in an active combat zone under life-threatening circumstances, then the serviceman can be declared dead after six months,” the document says.
Previously, to recognize the death of a missing person, it was necessary to wait two years from the end of hostilities.
The government approved the new rules after Vladimir Putin signed laws in April 2023 to simplify the procedures for declaring military personnel missing, declaring them dead, and establishing the fact of death in the war in Ukraine.