GRAPHIC CONTENT WARNING: Russia's callous treatment of the dead has sparked outrage and a criminal inquiry.

13:20, Tue, Jan 20, 2026 Updated: 13:21, Tue, Jan 20, 2026

Mass grave

The mass grave appeared at the Vysokoye cemetery in Prokopyevsk (Image: East2west News)

Horrifying footage has emerged from Vladimir Putin's Russia showing naked bodies being thrown into an open trench at a cemetery. A macabre video shows funeral workers wearing jackets marked "Cargo 200" disposing of nameless bodies at the Vysokoye cemetery in Prokopyevsk, in the Kemerovo region of Siberia. The men open flimsy wooden coffins, placing naked corpses inside. Then they tip the coffins into a mass grave.

As they fall, coffins overturn or break apart, causing bodies to spill out into the pit. Multiple black bags containing human remains from a morgue are also dumped into the trench. An off-camera voice can be heard asking: "Are you burying four people?"

A worker replies: "Yes. Four. And this is biological material."

Dead body (blurred) appears on the ground (Image: East2west News)

Multiple black bags containing human remains from a morgue are also dumped into the trench (Image: East2west News)

"Are you burying four people?" (Image: East2west News)

"Yes. Four. And this is biological material." (Image: East2west News)

Local media report the dead thrown into the pit were people "without relatives" - including homeless individuals. Among those identified were a man born in 1956 and three women born in 1953, 1974 and 1994. The callous treatment of the dead has sparked outrage and a criminal inquiry.

The local morgue confirmed to Russian media that the footage is genuine and that the workers were involved in burying people without known next of kin.

Vysokoye cemetery

Vysokoye cemetery (Image: East2west News)

The Russian Investigative Committee in Kemerovo region has launched a criminal inquiry into the incident over suspicion of the provision of services that do not meet safety standards or respect for human dignity.

No official charges have yet been announced. The company name "Cargo 200" is a term widely associated with the transport of Russian war dead.

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This added to public fury, but officials claimed the burials were not related to the war in Ukraine.

The footage has triggered widespread anger on Russian social media, with users accusing authorities of treating the dead as "waste" and demanding accountability.