KrioRus

KrioRus was founded in 2005 by a group of nine people who wanted to be cryogenically frozen along with their relatives, to be revived in the future. Some of the company's founders had prior experience in cryopreservation. For instance, in 2003, Igor ARyukhov was the chief advisor to the project that aimed to preserve the brain of a deceased biotechnologist.

The company was established as a project run by the Russian Transhumanist Movement NGO. The same year, Lydia Fedorenko became the company's first client, yet by then KrioRus had no cryogenic storage, and Fedorenko's relatives had to store her brain in solid CO₂. By the mid-2010s the company had clients from the United States, Netherlands, Japan, Israel, Italy, Switzerland and Australia. Several relatives of KrioRus employees were put in cryogenic storage as well.

KrioRus first cryogenic storage facility was constructed in 2006 in Alabushevo, Solnechnogorsky District, Moscow Oblast. The second storage facility was launched in Sergiyevo-Posadsky District of Moscow Oblast in 2012. By 2016, the company planned to build another cryogenic storage near Tver and establish an R&D facility there.

According to KrioRus and press reports, as of August 15, 2019 the company has 70 people under care (36 bodies and 34 patients' heads), 10 dogs, 17 cats, both male and female, as well as four birds and a chinchilla. In addition, there are human and animal DNA samples in storage. Almost as many as 200 Russian citizens have entered into cryopreservation agreements with the company. KrioRus is considered to be one of the largest cryonics companies in the world competing with Alcor Life Extension Foundation (170 people in cryogenic storage) and some others. In addition, KrioRus is the first cryocompany in Europe that possesses its own cryogenic storage facility.

The company has participated in some medical technology and funeral homes business exhibition in Russia and abroad, namely the Health Industry-2012(Russian: Индустрия здравоохранения-2012), Necropolis (Russian: Некрополь) (2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016), Necropolis-Siberia (2016), TanExpo (2016). At 2013 Necropolis exhibition, the company received the gold medal for innovations.

Legal aspects

Legally speaking, the contract between KrioRus and its clients is structured as an agreement to participate in a scientific experiment; hence, the customers must accept the risks associated with it and acknowledge that the "revival" is not guaranteed. The contract covers the preservation of the bodies for up to 100 years. As KrioRus has a legal status of a scientific institution, its activities are not subject to certification.

Criticism

Yevgeny Alexandrov, the chair of the Russian Academy of Sciences commission against pseudoscience, has said that there is no scientific basis for cryonics and that the company's offering is based on unfounded speculations.