I believe thats right. I think that in Russia you can issue power of attorney to others for I.D.s, passports and such. According to the Russian Consul "Consul shall prove the identity of the trustee – the person issuing the Power of Attorney – on the basis of the submitted documents." And the message seems to indicate she is having trouble with the power of attorney documents.
There has not been an attorney involved with this. I found an email address for the Pony Express office in Moscow and sent them an email. Hopefully they will write back. She lives in Belarus and is a citizen there. The American embassy in Belarus is almost non existent and Belarussians have to travel to Moscow for their visas. Since she had a visa from 2008 that was not expried yet she did not have to travel to Moscow for an interview. She just had her brother who works in Moscow send the documents through Pony Express. All went well and I received notfication that her passport went back to Pony Express for pickup. Now we have hit a snag. And she wants me to help from here and not being sure what she needs is nerve wracking.