No room for the dead

MOSCOW — Aleksei Orlov’s grandfather was buried in Moscow’s Danilovskoe Cemetery in 1946. His grandmother was laid to rest there four decades later. And, about 11 years ago, Mr. Orlov buried his father there.

But when his mother died unexpectedly last August, he found there was no room for her in the family plot. Or almost anywhere else.

Moscow, it turns out, is largely closed to the dead. Of the 71 cemeteries in the Russian capital, only one is open to new burials. The shortage of space has left relatives without room in family plots to choose between burial far from the city and cremation, a practice that is frowned upon by the Russian Orthodox Church.

“Mama was a Christian and wanted to be buried according to Christian tradition,” Mr. Orlov, a Moscow business analyst, said. “On the other hand, it wasn’t possible to bury her. New plots are either far away, expensive or both.”

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