The price of dying...in Moscow

Here’s an interesting article from The Moscow Times on the cost of dying, which is possibly an example of poor pricing, poor economics, poor journalism, or possibly all three.

In the second paragraph, the article mentions that the costs of a new grave in Moscow is currently 4,400 rubles, but the state provides 5,700 rubles towards the cost of burials, suggesting that the municipally-owed burial service, Ritual, would be 1,300 rubles ahead on each burial. Could this be what makes Russia one of the world’s most dangerous places?

The other interesting comment is the sentence “One reason for changes in prices is that the number of burials of low-income individuals as increased”. Does this mean that the price increase will lead to more high-income burials?

Hmmmmm