For Pawel Super / EPA
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, president of Ukraine
70 members of a religious sect were in Saint Petersburg praying for the president and the Ukrainian army. They were all detained.
Russian security forces detained around 70 members of a religious sect who dedicated their prayers Ao President Ukrainian Volodyyr Zelenskyy and to Ukrainian army, independent news portal Holod reported this Saturday.
On Friday, the police raided a meeting of the pro-Iraqi religious organization School of Unified Principle and seas about 70 participants, accusing them of spreading false information about the Russian Armed Forcessays that portal, cited by the Spanish agency EFE.
The organization was mostly made up of teachers from schools in 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 war in 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.
The members of the sect were forced to reveal their stance against the war to their families.
Prisoners 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.
