They face sentences of up to 10 years in prison
Russian security forces detained around 70 members of a religious sect in Saint Petersburg who dedicated their prayers to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the Ukrainian army, independent news portal Holod reported today.
On Friday, police invaded a meeting of the pro-Iraqi religious organization School of the Unified Principle and detained around 70 participants, accusing them of spreading false information about the Russian Armed Forces, says that portal, cited by the Spanish agency EFE.
The organization was mostly made up of teachers and school teachers from different regions of Russia, although the majority were residents of Saint Petersburg.
According to Russian media, the sect’s leaders promoted ideas contrary to the official Russian position on the conflict with Ukraine and denigrated Russian soldiers and the citizens who supported them.
Furthermore, they also prayed that Russian citizens would not be mobilized for war, as well as by the Ukrainian army and its president.
Members of the sect were forced to reveal their stance against the war to their families.
Those arrested face sentences of up to 10 years in prison.
The religious sect, whose practices were based on Christian orthodoxy but incorporated esoteric and mystical rituals, was founded in Ukraine.
