Psychological, health problems or a criminal offence may be behind the disappearance of people in Russia. Around 500,000 are currently listed as missing. Although the causes differ, they often bring the same consequences for the relatives: fear for the li

One morning three months ago Alla Filimonova's husband, a successful carpenter, went to do a small job not far from his house. She hasn't seen him since. Now Alla spends most of her time looking for him.

“I dye my hair now because it's gone grey. You constantly feel helpless. You want to do something, but you don't know what you can do. It's so hard when someone disappears – it's harder than a loved one dying,” she says.
 
Alla has paid thousands of dollars to private detectives, lodged dozens of inquiries with the police and has begun to visit psychics. Although she still believes her husband is alive, there has been little progress.

As with many others in her position, Alla's search for her husband has been expensive, lengthy and frustrating. But there are those who believe that a few simple measures could make the whole process of finding missing people more effective.

Mikhail Stepnov runs one of Russia's oldest private detective agencies. He says the reasons for disappearance vary. Some are suddenly taken ill, or fall victims of crime. Others run away for psychological or domestic reasons. But in more than half the cases he deals with, searching for these people requires no detective skills. It is simply bureaucracy and police inefficiency that prevents them from being found.

“Police officers are not pushed as hard to find missing people as to solve criminal cases. The respective units are often small and rarely consist of the best men. The amount of calls they have to make for even the simplest inquiries is overwhelming,” Mikhail explains.

Indeed, the answers may lie in fragmented databases in police stations, hospitals and morgues across the huge territory of the country. Simply tracking someone down is often the hardest job, particularly if relatives don't contact the police themselves.

Nevertheless, the police say the situation is improving.

“We have recently opened more than 30 dedicated missing people centres across the country. We are using DNA testing and, most importantly, from a situation where there was only pen and paper, digital technology is making our job much easier,” said Vladimir Stashuk, Director of the Moscow Police Missing People Unit.

Finding a missing person is often not the end of the story though. Lina's adopted daughter suffers from a manic disorder that sees her disappear repeatedly for days at a time.

“Last time she disappeared I found her in a drug den,” Lina says. “When she does this I cannot work. I cannot do anything. She apologises every time, but she cannot control it.”
 
When a person goes missing it is often a symptom of a deeper problem. Not all disappearances can be prevented, but finding people is one area in which the police, the medical system and ordinary people can make a difference.