According to Art. 188 of the Criminal Procedural Code of the Russian Federation, sending a writ is the only way to summon a person to an interrogation. The writ shall be handed in to the person summoned for an interrogation against his/her signature, or it has to be forwarded to him/her by telecommunications (by telephone message).
It should be noted that in the case that the person who is summoned for an interrogation is temporarily absent, the writ has to be given to an adult member of his/her family, or has to be passed to his/her employer, or, on the investigator's orders, to the other persons and organizations, who (which) shall be obliged to hand the writ over to the mentioned person.
The person who is summoned for an interrogation in a proper way is obliged to come to the interrogation. If such person fails to do so without any serious reason, he/she may be brought forcibly.
A writ must contain following information:
· who and in what capacity is summoned;
· to whom and at what address;
· date and hour appointed for the interrogation, and the consequences of the failure to appear without a serious reason.
If a writ is forwarded by telecommunications, the same information is to be delivered. Ask a person who is forwarding a telephone message to present himself/herself, and make sure that the message is delivered from a landline, not a cell phone (demand to voice the phone number of the outgoing call).