Repatriation Of a Body To Armenia – How to transport a body to Armenia from Russia by air

Almost 3,000,000 Armenians live in Russia, 1,700,000 in USA, 450,000 in France. There are over a 1,000,000 Armenians in Moscow. Many people repatriate their loved ones who died in Russia back home to Armenia. How to transport a deceased person's body to Armenia?

Repatriation of a body to Armenia

You have decided to bring the deceased person's body to their homeland, Armenia for burial. The main method of transporting a body between countries is by air. This is the fastest and the most convenient way, given the fact that the religious tradition requires to bury the body on the 3rd day.

Repatriation of a body to Armenia from the Russian Federation – General Procedures

Stage 1: Collect the required documents;

Stage 2: Prepare the body for transportation at the morgue;

Stage 3: Purchase a zinc coffin and seal it with the body inside;

Stage 5: Choose the airline and hand over the coffin to the carrier's cargo service.

Full list of documents required for repatriation of a body to Armenia

Documents required for obtaining an accompanying sheet at the Armenian Embassy

1. Notarized translation of the deceased foreign citizen’s passport;
2. Stamped death certificate in Russian;
3. Rospotrebnadzor (SES) certificate;
4. Certificate of no unauthorized contents;

You'll have to pay a consular fee (contact the embassy for the exact amount). Depending on the country, this fee is about 20-40 EUR.

Required documents for an airline's contract of carriage to bring the body to Armenia;

You'll have to provide all the above mentioned documents to the airline, along with passport details and contacts of those who will pick up the body at the destination airport.

Bring the body to Armenia: on your own or with the help from a funeral service?

You should decide first thing whether you are going to collect documents and arrange contracts with the cargo agent and the airline by yourself, or hire a funeral service to do it for you.

Who can have an accompanying sheet for repatriation issued at the Armenian Embassy

• Deceased person's family;
• Funeral service employee;

Choose an Airline For Repatriation to Armenia

Any airline operating direct flights to Armenia is suitable for body transportation.

The terms and rates for coffin transportation vary from carrier to carrier and are not publicly available. You'll need to check all the details by phone or at the airline's office.

Airline requirements for transportation of a body to Armenia

As a rule, all air carriers offer carriage of a coffin or a cinerary urn. Transportation of the coffin with the body is only allowed in the cargo compartment. The rules for ashes in an urn vary: more often cinerary urns are required to be transported in the cargo compartment, less commonly they are allowed as hand luggage. 

Attention!

• The exact transportation details are established by the airline. Therefore make sure you call the airline's hot line or office to check them. Pay special attention to cinerary urn transportation rules as they tend to vary more than other rules;
• Transportation of a deceased person's body requires a contract of carriage and a declaration. Customs declaration is a mandatory notification of non-standard cargo. Without this document, the container with the remains may be removed from the flight.
• Attention! We do not recommend trying to carry a cinerary urn in regular checked-in baggage or hand luggage bypassing a contract with the airline. A metal urn will be inevitably spotted at baggage check, which may end up in removing the baggage and the passenger from the flight.
• A funeral service representative or a cargo agent will help you fill in the customs declaration properly.
• Some airlines require that an accompanying person travel with the body. They can be a funeral service representative or one of the family. In this case, you'll need to purchase another full ticket for that person.

The cost of repatriation to Armenia by air

It may cost up to 60,000 ₽ to take a body to Armenia by air, not including the cost of the accompanying person's ticket and the cost of the hearse vehicle services.

The cost of transportation depends on the weight, the airline fare, as well as the cost of taking the body from the morgue to the airport by hearse vehicle.

Useful contacts for repatriation of a body to Armenia from Russia

Embassy of the Republic of Armenia

• Official website: russia.mfa.am

• Address: Moscow, Armyanskiy Pereulok, 2

• Contacts

Consulate of the Republic of Armenia

• Official website: russia.mfa.am

• Address: Moscow, Armyanskiy Pereulok, 2

• Contacts

SanEpidemNadzor

• SanEpidemNadzor (SES) Official Website: www.mossanepid.ru

• Address: Moscow, Grafskiy Pereulok, 4, block 2.

• Tel: +7 (495) 687-36-08

• Open hours: Weekdays: 8AM - 8PM ;Weekend: 9AM - 8PM

All-Russian Public Organization – Union of Armenians of Russia

• Official Website: www.sarinfo.org

• Address: 129272, Moscow, ul. Sovietskoy Armii 8, p. 1

• Tel:  +7 (495) 681-15-01

How to transport a body to Armenia – Free consultation from Ritual.ru

Before you start arranging repatriation of a body to Armenia from Russia, consider getting a free consultation at Ritual.ru on 8 (495) 181-98-09 hotline.

Ritual.ru will help repatriate a body to Armenia

Our long-term experience in providing repatriation services, and Ritual.ru's status of the state funeral service allow us to quickly and seamlessly prepare a document package and transport the deceased person's body to Armenia. Call our 24x7 multichannel hotline +7 (495) 181-98-09 to make a contract for transportation to Armenia, or get advice from Ritual.ru.

You can purchase a zinc coffin and funeral accessories in Moscow at Ritual.ru multiservice funeral center (ritual items store) located at ul. Kasatkina, 11, p. 13.

What kind of help Ritual.ru offers in transporting a deceased person to Armenia

• Provide shipping container, zinc coffin, funeral accessories;
• Seal transport container, issue certificate of coffin sealing and no unauthorized contents inside;
• Arrange transportation of the body to the morgue and have it prepared for repatriation (embalming, cosmetic treatment); 
• Get a full package of documents required for transportation: papers from the morgue, SES, embassy / consulate, notary, air carrier, etc.;
• Arrange a hearse vehicle to take the body to the airport's cargo terminal;
• Hand over the shipping container to the cargo service and take care of the paperwork;
• Provide shipping container, zinc coffin, funeral accessories;
• Ritual.ru employee will escort the body and hand over the cargo and the documents at the destination.

See Also

• Post-mortem repatriation from Russia to the UK
• Transportation of the deceased person's body throughout the Russian Federation – Cargo 200
• How to transport a deceased from Russia to South Korea