Moment police raid twisted ritual where women 'in trances' bury themselves alive
Two young women were found 'buried alive' by police who raided a bizarre shamanic ritual where worshippers were gathered around a fire. The pair with their heads wrapped like mummies had to be dug out of the graves in a forest in the Leningrad region of Russia.
Both were alive after their ordeals with one having difficulty standing up when she was dug out while police also found 13 more worshippers who were waiting to be buried after digging their own graves. The self-styled shaman named Timur and his female assistant Yekaterina Koroleva were both detained on suspicion of running a sinister cult in the woodland spot where the people had surrounded a fire.
First, the shaman was ordered to dig out the two women from their 20-inch deep graves. Koroleva - organiser of the ritual - denied that the participants had paid almost £80 to die in the graves, and claimed their heads were not completely buried, allowing them to breathe.
'The essence of the ritual is essentially a kind of reset,' she said. 'It's a psychological trance ceremony where a person undergoes a complete reboot, a full cleansing.
'If someone has gone through certain life events, or wants to be completely reborn, to fully change their life — they opt for this extreme form of burial.'
Reports said participants were wrapped in rags and buried alive as part of a supposed rebirth or symbolic encounter with Hel, the Norse goddess of death.
Law enforcement were deciding how to proceed against the detained pair. They could face up to seven years in jail, reported Novye Izvestia news outlet. A shaman is a person believed to have access to, and influence in, the world of spirits, typically through rituals, visions, and healing practices.
Meanwhile, a Russian cult leader who claimed he would rape his female followers was detained in Argentina, in April. Konstantin Rudnev, already convicted of sexual abuse in Russia, was arrested in the city of Bariloche, on charges of human trafficking.
Local media reports that he was stopped along with 13 others. Video footage shows him being arrested, with the police also detaining a number of women.
They can be seen being placed in handcuffs and forcibly taken away. Rudnev was sentenced to 11 years in prison in Siberia in August 2013, after being accused of raping his female followers. The leader of his own sect, Ashram Shambala, founded in the late 1980s in Novosibirsk, he called himself the "Great Shaman Shri Dzhnan Avatar Muni."
He amassed about 20,000 fanatical followers all over the country, with branches in various parts of the former Soviet Union. He reportedly claimed to be a god from the star Sirius, an alien with mystical powers, and led orgies, amid a mix of yoga and esotericism.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South Wales Guardian
3 hours ago
- South Wales Guardian
Four people killed in Russia and Ukraine as countries trade aerial attacks
Ukraine's southern Dnipro and north-eastern Sumy regions came under combined rocket and drone attack, local officials reported. Head of the Dnipro regional administration Serhii Lysak said at least two people had died and five were wounded in the barrage. In the city of Dnipro, a multi-story building and business were damaged during the strike and in the region a fire engulfed a shopping centre. In Sumy, the military administration said three people were injured. Kharkiv sustained an intense aerial bombardment overnight with local authorities reporting Ukraine's second-largest city was hit by four guided aerial bombs, two ballistic missiles and 15 drones over a three-hour period. In a post on Telegram, Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov said high-rise residential buildings, local businesses, roads and the communication network were damaged in the attack. He said at least five people were injured, including three rescue workers who were wounded in a double tap strike — where a second attack targets emergency workers trying to help people wounded in the initial attack. According to the daily air force report, in total Russia targeted Ukraine with 208 drones and 27 missiles overnight. It said according to preliminary data, air defence and electronic warfare took down or intercepted 183 drones and 17 missiles but hits from 10 missiles and 25 drones had been recorded in nine locations. In Russia, officials said that Ukrainian drones targeted multiple regions overnight. A drone attack on the Rostov region, on the border with Ukraine, killed two people, acting governor Yuri Slyusar reported. In the neighbouring Stavropol region, drones hit an unspecified industrial facility, governor Vladimir Vladimirov said on Telegram. He added that the attack sparked a brief fire, but did not specify where exactly. Mr Vladimirov said cellphone internet in the region was restricted because of the attack — a measure authorities regularly take across the vast country that critics say helps widespread online censorship. An unconfirmed media report said videos posted online by local residents showed that the drones hit the Signal radio plant that makes jamming equipment. The Associated Press was unable to verify the claim. Drones also targeted Moscow, but were shot down, according to mayor Sergei Sobyanin, and an unspecified industrial facility in the Penza region south-east of the capital, governor Oleg Melnichenko said. Russia's Defence Ministry said that its air defences shot down or intercepted a total of 54 Ukrainian drones, including 24 over the Bryansk region on the border with Ukraine, 12 over the Rostov region, six over the annexed Crimean Peninsula, four over the Azov sea, three over the Black Sea and a few others over the Orlov, Tula and Belgorod regions. Russian civil aviation agency Rosaviatsia overnight briefly halted flights in and out of airports serving the city of Kaluga, south-west of Moscow, as well as Vladikavkaz and Grozny in the North Caucasus.
The Independent
6 hours ago
- The Independent
Five dead after Ukraine and Russia trade drone and missile attacks as talks stall
In Ukraine's Dnipro region, three people died in Russian shelling, while two were killed in Russia's Rostov region after a Ukrainian drone strike. Ukrainian officials said Russia launched 235 drones and 27 missiles in a 'massive combined attack' overnight. Ten missiles and 25 drones found their targets, striking nine locations, while air defences shot down or intercepted the rest, according to Ukraine's Air Force. 'A terrible night. A massive combined attack on the region,' Serhiy Lysak, the governor of Dnipropetrovsk region, wrote on Telegram. An additional six people were injured, he said, posting photos of smashed buildings, burnt-out cars and firefighters battling blazes. In Dnipro city, a multi-storey building and a business were damaged, and a fire engulfed a shopping centre outside the city. Ukraine's southern Dnipro and northeastern Sumy regions also came under heavy rocket and drone attack. Officials in Sumy reported three people injured after Russian drones hit a central square and damaged the regional administration building. Kharkiv also sustained intense bombardment. Ukraine's emergency services said six people were hurt, including four rescuers injured in a so-called 'double tap' strike, where a second attack follows the first to target emergency workers. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed that Russia would feel the consequences. Russian military enterprises, Russian logistics, Russian airports must feel that the Russian war has real consequences for them,' he said. 'There can be absolutely no silence in response to such strikes, and Ukrainian long-range drones ensure this.' Ukraine's attacks on Russia have also intensified in recent months. Russia's Defence Ministry said its air defences intercepted 54 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 24 over the Bryansk region and 12 over Rostov. Officials in Moscow and other areas also reported drone attacks, though most were shot down. In Russia's Rostov region, which borders Ukraine, acting governor Yuri Slyusar said a Ukrainian drone attack killed two people. Drones also struck an industrial facility in the neighbouring Stavropol region, sparking a brief fire, according to governor Vladimir Vladimirov. Officials also reported drone attacks on Moscow and the Penza region southeast of the capital, though they were intercepted. In Russia's Ingushetia region in the North Caucasus, a woman and three children were injured after a drone fell on a home, regional health officials said. On the battlefield, Russia's Defence Ministry claimed to have seized the village of Zelenyi Hai in the eastern Donetsk region and Maliivka in the Dnipro region. Kyiv did not comment on the claims. Mr Zelensky said he had been briefed by Chief of Staff Oleksandr Syrsky on 'active and long-range actions on Russian territory,' including clashes in Pokrovsky and efforts to repel Russian advances into the Sumy region. 'Our forces are consistently blocking Russian attempts to advance deep into the Sumy region from the border,' he said. Mr Zelensky added that drone production in Ukraine this year would 'significantly exceed' earlier forecasts. In Moscow, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that peace talks had never truly been on the West's agenda. 'If the West wanted 'real peace' in Ukraine, it would stop supplying Kyiv with weapons,' she said, according to state news agency TASS. Russia's Defence Ministry claimed its overnight strikes had hit Ukrainian military sites 'that manufacture components for missile weapons, as well as produce ammunition and explosives.' The Independent could not verify this claim.
Scottish Sun
6 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
Heart-stopping moment hero runs in front of train to rescue man who collapsed on track with just a second to spare
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) THIS is the heart-stopping moment a hero runs in front of a train to rescue a man who collapsed over the tracks. The brave onlooker makes a desperate dash to drag the man to safety a split second before the pair are smashed into. 5 The dramatic moment a hero pulls a man away from an incoming train at the last second Credit: East2West 5 The train rushes on past with the lifesaver keeping a tight grip on the collapsed individual who appears passed out Credit: East2West 5 The moment the man falls headfirst over onto a train track in Russia Credit: East2West The man, believed to be Russian, can be seen stumbling towards the active tracks as the bright lights of the passenger train appear in the distance. As the man approaches he suddenly stops before balancing on one leg as the train continues to hurtle towards him. Seconds later, he falls forwards and collapses head first onto the line. It is unclear what made the man fall to the ground with it believed to have been a sweltering 30C in Derbent, Russia, at the time. With his body draped over the tracks a heroic bystander leaps into action and runs directly over the tracks with the train mere feet away. He miraculously manages to grab a hold of the man as he lays motionless on the ground and drag him onto the grass next to the track. The train then rushes on past with the lifesaver keeping a tight grip on the collapsed individual who appears passed out. A search is now underway for the unidentified good samaritan. Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper have even put out a notice saying: "The hero is being sought so that he can be honoured." Watch shock moment car get trapped on railway crossing before train speeds through A similar chilling ordeal unfolded last year as a hero commuter was seen jumping on to railway tracks to rescue a toddler — just 22 seconds before a train thunders past. CCTV captured the three-year-old walking along the platform last month and starting to lower himself over the edge before falling on to the track as a desperate adult runs towards him. Former Big Brother star Mikey Hughes was also saved by strangers when he fell onto the tracks at a Scottish station in 2024. The veteran reality star was at Hyndland station in Glasgow when the scary incident happened. He admits he is "lucky to be alive" as he only suffered a few bruises and no bones were broken. 5 The hero got to the man as the train was mere feet away from hitting them both Credit: East2West
