Kursk Residents Outraged With Haphazard Missing Persons List Published by Russian Authorities

Residents of the Kursk region have criticized the list of individuals reported missing during combat and evacuation activities in Kursk region, 7×7 outlet  reported on January 10.

According to the agency, the authorities listed relatives of the missing, evacuated residents, and even a deceased young woman as "missing persons."

The list was published on January 9 by Tatyana Moskalkova, Russia's Presidential Commissioner for Human Rights, and contains the names of 517 individuals.

Local residents took to Kursk Telegram channels to voice their frustration:

"I don’t understand—am I searching for someone, or are they searching for me?" said one resident; another one shared, "Did they use a randomizer to create this list?"

"Not only have they ignored civilians for five months, but they also put together these lists haphazardly," wrote a third person in the comments on one of Kursk’s Telegram channels.

7×7 stated that many residents were unable to find the names of their relatives on the list despite having reported them to the authorities. They shared information about their missing loved ones in the comments under posts featuring the list.

On August 12, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy officially stated that Ukraine is conducting an operation in the Kursk region of Russia.

On August 15, Ukrainian authorities announced preparing for the possible arrival of refugees from the Kursk region and established a 24-hour hotline.

At the same time, the Ukrainian military was working on establishing a humanitarian corridor for civilians from Russia’s Kursk region to Ukraine’s Sumy region.

On November 11, a video of Russian forces executing two captured Ukrainian soldiers in Russia’s Kursk region was shared by the Ukrainian activist Serhii Sternenko. Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, reminded that such acts violate the Geneva Conventions and constitute a grave international crime.