Time to read: 10 minutes(s)

In North Ossetia, relatives have been searching for months for soldiers missing in action in Ukraine. Some still know nothing of their fate. Every day, consumed by uncertainty, mothers, wives, and brothers independently search for their loved ones and then transport their bodies. There's practically no help to be found. There is no single center in the republic that would coordinate the process and where desperate people could turn for help. Relatives are well aware of the fate of the missing captivity or death, and you'll be lucky if you don't have to bury a bag of remains.

According to relatives of missing persons, assistance from regional authorities or the Ministry of Defense can be counted on in exceptional cases. if you are an acquaintance/neighbor/relative of the head of the republic, or if you have connections in the Ministry of Defense.

Senior Sergeant Taimuraz Yesenov went missing a year ago. The search for him is still ongoing. According to reserve officer Oleg Marzoyev, who actively raises funds for those mobilized from North Ossetia, the search area for Yesenov is under Russian military control, which should have made the search easier. Marzoyev wrote to Deputy Defense Minister Ruslan Tsalikov about this, but no action has been taken so far.

Taimuraz Yesenov A combat veteran with 15 years of service. He traveled to Ukraine with his younger brother, Azamat. He lost contact immediately after arriving at the scene of hostilities. On March 24, the family contacted his commander in South Ossetia, who reported that Senior Sergeant Yesenov was missing in action. The family was outraged that they had been kept in the dark and not informed of what had happened until they themselves raised the alarm.

According to the commander, some of the soldiers from Taimuraz's unit were captured. Yesenov could have been with them. But no one knows what really happened.

Yesenov's relatives started writing to everyone from the head of the republic to officials in the Ministry of Defense. 

A month and a half later, after numerous appeals from relatives to all authorities, the prisoners were released. Yesenov was not among them. The freed soldiers told Taimuraz's family how they were captured: Yesenov's crew, part of a tank company, was supposed to storm the village of Sladkoye, accompanied by infantry, but the infantry failed to arrive in time. The tank was hit, and the crew managed to evacuate. A battle ensued, and Yesenov was wounded. The crew members were captured.

One of Taimuraz's comrades told us that our brother had been tortured. No one saw him again after March 25th., - says Taimuraz’s sister Fatima. - In May, we learned that they wanted to recognize him as dead and nominate him for the title of Hero of Russia. But we refused to sign the documents. A few months later, First Deputy Minister of Defense Ruslan Tsalikov finally presented my mother with the gold star. 

At the request of the Yesenov family, Taimuraz was included in the list of prisoners of war for a possible exchange. The Yesenovs sent letters to all authorities requesting "individual negotiations on Taimuraz's case." They also repeatedly appealed to the head of the region, Sergei Menyailo.

Desperate for help, Taimuraz's relatives posted a search ad for him on a popular Ossetian Telegram channel.

The family did not wear mourning. They are confident that Taimuraz is alive and will definitely return.

Many people are trying to offer us condolences, but we don't accept them. I know he will come back, because he has seven sisters, three brothers, and three daughters waiting for him at home., said Fatima.

At the end of January, Georgy D., a father of many children from the village of Sunzha, volunteered for war, leaving behind his three children, his young wife, and his mother, who knew nothing of her son's decision. He lost contact several days after arriving at the front. The search for him continues to this day. 

The mother has already been told everything. She's trying to hold on. Her family considers her a strong woman, having already had to bury two children. The family is supported by numerous relatives and neighbors who come to visit every evening. They cheer them up and make kartoftjynta (potato pies).

According to his relatives, Georgy had a comfortable life: a family, a stable job, a home, so they still don't understand why he decided to go to war. He planned to join one of the "Bars" volunteer units, of which there are about 20 in the country. They promised a salary of 350 rubles. Georgy took 50 rubles for expenses and went to the front with a group of 30 people. However, the recruiters two brothers from South Ossetia The volunteers weren't taken to their final destination, but abandoned at a train station in a southern city, having first extorted most of their money. The volunteers made it to Bars on their own, but the "working conditions" turned out to be far less rosy than they'd been promised.

The group joined the assault unit of the Veteran battalion. 

As part of the "Veteran" Georgy found himself in one of the most difficult areas of the front   Avdiivka. Almost immediately after arriving, without any preparation, they were thrown into an assault on a powerful fortified area. Georgiy managed to write to a friend that the Ukrainians had surrounded them and he would likely not survive. Of the 300 men, only 100 escaped the encirclement. 

Georgy is not in the Rostov morgue. For his wife, this is already a consolation. But as drone footage shows, numerous bodies, covered in snow, lie on the battlefield near Avdiivka. The territory is under the control of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. His relatives are almost certain that Georgiy is also lying there. According to a fellow soldier who last saw Georgiy, he was severely wounded in the leg and could not walk. The fellow soldier gave him some duct tape to wrap the wound and also left him two grenades. Georgiy was never seen again. 

There's little hope that he's alive. Can you imagine, even if he didn't die, the Ukrainians found him with two grenades and a portrait of Putin on his chest?The Veteran Battalion fights in uniforms with an emblem depicting Putin, the emblem sewn onto the chest of their military jackets. - approx. «NotMoscow») who would leave him alive? - the missing man's uncle asks"There was a real massacre near Avdiivka; 25-30 Ossetians died. We know that the head of the republic, Sergei Menyailo, was informed about this and asked to find out the fate of the missing and dead soldiers. But he replied that he couldn't answer for all the Ossetians at the front and that he only oversaw two battalions, which he himself had created. So we're forced to take action ourselves, but so far, without success."». 

The regional branch of the Red Cross also did not help the relatives. 

The search for Senior Lieutenant Oleg Farniev from the village of Nizhny Fiagdon lasted three months. He served in Budyonnovsk as a navigator-operator in a helicopter unit. Farniev was an experienced military man who had fought in Syria.

The helicopter unit, which included Farniyev's helicopter, was shot down after returning from a mission. One helicopter crashed on Russian territory, while Farniyev's aircraft crashed closer to Ukrainian Armed Forces positions. As soon as this became known, the pilot's father Oleg, too, immediately went to Ukraine to look for his son. He returned empty-handed.

We wrote letters to every authority, but the only response was silence. You can imagine what we've been through these past months! In August, we received a call from the military unit, saying the Ukrainian side had submitted lists of the dead, and our name was on them. Oleg was identified by DNA. His father personally went to the Rostov morgue to collect his son's remains. Now I've written a letter to the district administration, to the head of the region, because I believe Oleg deserves more than just the Order of Courage— the military man's aunt, Fatima, is convinced. 

Oleg Farniev was buried with full military honors in his home village. A farewell ceremony was held earlier at the military unit in Budyonnovsk where he served. The pilot is survived by a young daughter.

Oleg Marzoev says the region's missing persons search system is not well-established. 

"Months later, families can't find their loved ones and live in daily terror. They're told a relative has died, but the body is still nowhere to be found, and they look upon those who buried their soldiers as lucky ones. It's pure torture. I see on social media every day how relatives plead and pray for their loved ones to be found, but, unfortunately, even when they have special status, as in the case of Hero of Russia Taimuraz Yesenov, even when promises have been made by senior officials, and when the location where the search should be conducted is known, they never get around to it. What can we even say about ordinary guys?"

Marzoev recalls how for two months they could not find the body of an Ossetian soldier who died in the first days of the war.

"There was only information about his death, but there was no body, nor any reliable information. The soldiers at the hospital said they saw him fall, and nothing more," continues the interlocutor of “NeMoskva”. "Political will was needed at the local level to find the soldier, but it was lacking. The family managed to achieve something directly through the top brass of the Ministry of Defense. And this despite the fact that the deceased served in the National Guard. It seemed inconceivable that all officials at all levels didn't rush to assist in the search. But it's possible. Even then, it was clear that the system was critically failing and that regional support centers and task forces needed to be established, which, unfortunately, never materialized. Who could have known that dozens of such tragedies would occur in our republic? And people are left alone with this grief. Not a single authority—at either the federal or regional level—is taking responsibility or doing anything. There's no systematic effort to overcome this tragedy." 

Nevertheless, Marzoev advises relatives to continue writing letters to all possible authorities. And to keep searching, as there are cases where missing persons are found even after several months. More often than not, however, it's the remains that are found.

— The Russian armored vehicle was blown up in battle, — Marzoev says— Several months later, soldiers who survived that battle returned from the front lines to this site. That day, they collected 5 kg of remains there. So, you understand—several months later. No one had ever searched for or removed the dead before. How is this possible?

According to Marzoev, the families of missing soldiers should create an organization to search for them. They should also involve philanthropists in this effort. 

— <…>It's possible to organize searches with the help of forensic experts and search teams on a private basis. But all of this requires considerable resources. Not every family has them. Therefore, we need sponsors who will assist in the search, pay for the travel of specialists and relatives, and their accommodation in the search and examination areas. But in addition to material resources, we also need administrative leverage to gain access to the search. Special regulations are in place there, even if it's not the front line, so achieving anything on your own is much more difficult. 

To date, 202 residents of North Ossetia are known to have died in Ukraine. From the village of Sunzha alone, with a population of 11, 800 men set out to seek their death in a foreign land.