Moscow cemeteries to get free WiFi
Russian authorities hope internet connection will attract more tourists and help visitors 'unwind'
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
You are now subscribed
Your newsletter sign-up was successful
As part of a drive to bring free internet access to crowed public places, Moscow authorities have announced they are connecting up an unlikely new location: cemeteries.
Officials from city hall announced that free Wi-Fi would be available at three of the city's historic cemeteries starting next year.
It is hoped that the move will attract more visitors to the Vagankovo, Troyekurovo and Novodevichy cemeteries where many illustrious Russians, including Chekov, Khrushchev and Stalin are buried.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Authorities say it will allow visitors to learn more about the people buried there. If successful, it will be extended to the rest of the capital's 133 cemeteries, the Associated Press reports.
Artyom Yekimov, director of a state-owned funeral company, said internet connection would also help visitors "unwind" at specially designated places in the cemeteries.
The telecommunications company YS System offered to install WiFi after carrying out a public survey this summer, the BBC reports.
"Respondents complained about the lack of internet at the cemetery," company head Yevgeny Abramov tells the Klerk.ru website.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
"While we were thinking about how to implement this project with the greatest possible sensitivity and respect for the departed, an answer popped up by itself."
-
Can Europe regain its digital sovereignty?Today’s Big Question EU is trying to reduce reliance on US Big Tech and cloud computing in face of hostile Donald Trump, but lack of comparable alternatives remains a worry
-
The Mandelson files: Labour Svengali’s parting gift to StarmerThe Explainer Texts and emails about Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador could fuel biggest political scandal ‘for a generation’
-
Magazine printables - February 13, 2026Puzzle and Quizzes Magazine printables - February 13, 2026
-
Israel retrieves final hostage’s body from GazaSpeed Read The 24-year-old police officer was killed during the initial Hamas attack
-
China’s Xi targets top general in growing purgeSpeed Read Zhang Youxia is being investigated over ‘grave violations’ of the law
-
Panama and Canada are negotiating over a crucial copper mineIn the Spotlight Panama is set to make a final decision on the mine this summer
-
Why Greenland’s natural resources are nearly impossible to mineThe Explainer The country’s natural landscape makes the task extremely difficult
-
Iran cuts internet as protests escalateSpeed Reada Government buildings across the country have been set on fire
-
US nabs ‘shadow’ tanker claimed by RussiaSpeed Read The ship was one of two vessels seized by the US military
-
How Bulgaria’s government fell amid mass protestsThe Explainer The country’s prime minister resigned as part of the fallout
-
Femicide: Italy’s newest crimeThe Explainer Landmark law to criminalise murder of a woman as an ‘act of hatred’ or ‘subjugation’ but critics say Italy is still deeply patriarchal