The channel is dedicated to publishing information about captured, injured or killed Russians fighting in Ukraine. It posts photos of passports, names, dog tags and military unit information.
A picture of a Russian soldier's ID card shared in a Ukrainian government-connected Telegram channel.
Marat is pretty candid about his cousin's likely fate.
"We do realize that all the signs are pointing to that most likely he was killed in action, but (we are) still trying to locate information where is the body that can be potentially found. Or maybe hopefully, he's alive," he said.
Marat's family in Ufa, Russia, asked him to call the hotline for fear of prompting reprisals from Russian authorities by searching for their son.
"The family is trying to not get contacted by anybody because everybody is so scared in Russia. Everyone's scared to talk, everyone's afraid of law enforcement agencies tracking them," said Marat.
