KABUL, Afghanistan — More than 23 years after the hurried Soviet military withdrawal from Afghanistan, Russians are still trying to solve haunting mysteries they left behind: the fate of 265 former soldiers still missing in action, some of them thought to have taken up quiet Afghan lives.

It is rare that the Russian Embassy here opens its high gates to outsiders. But last week, foreign and Afghan reporters were invited in to talk with Alexander Lavrentyev, the vice president of the Moscow-based War Veterans Committee, who made a soft-spoken but passionate plea for help in locating the service members from the former Soviet Union who have still not been accounted for.

“I am confident some are still alive, and the problem is that they are afraid to contact us,” Mr. Lavrentyev said.

Many of those who survive may not know that Russia and most of the other states that made up the Soviet Union have passed amnesty laws that ensure that even if the soldiers deserted or decided to remain in Afghanistan, they will not be prosecuted. They may also be unaware that if they come home they will be able to receive medical care, he said.