
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


The Herald Scotland
5 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
France's highest court upholds some of Bashar Assad's legal protections
The decision is a blow to activists who had hoped the court would set aside the immunity, a decision that could have had far-reaching consequences for other leaders accused of atrocities. 'From our side as a victim, this is a huge mistake. This will support another dictatorship to keep doing this kind of crime, they know they will enjoy immunity,' said Mazen Darwish, president of the Syrian Centre for Media, which collected evidence of war crimes. 'It is a sad day for us,' Mr Darwish said. ⚖️[Press release] Scope of immunity of foreign officials and Heads of State👓Press release and rulings > — Cour de cassation (@Courdecassation) July 25, 2025 The president of the Cour de Cassation, Christophe Soulard, said in the ruling that 19 judges had declined to lift Assad's immunity, which could have paved the way for his trial in absentia in France over the use of chemical weapons in Ghouta in 2013. Human rights lawyers had said that it was high time to enable prosecution of leaders linked to atrocities while they are in power, not just when they leave. But international law forbids it. 'Under current international law, crimes against humanity and war crimes are not exceptions to the principle of jurisdictional immunity for sitting foreign heads of state,' Mr Soulard said. Assad, the former leader of Syria now in exile in Russia, retained no lawyers for these charges and has denied that he was behind the chemical attacks. 'The court's ruling is a missed opportunity for justice,' said Mariana Pena, a lawyer with the Open Society Justice Initiative, which helped bring the case to the court. But she said that the ruling 'leaves the door open to the prosecution of Assad'. The court also ruled on a case against a former Syrian government finance minister in Assad's government, allowing that he could be prosecuted. Adib Mayaleh's lawyers have argued that he had immunity under international law. For more than 50 years, Syria was ruled by Hafez Assad and then his son Bashar. During the Arab Spring, rebellion broke out against their tyrannical rule in 2011 across the country of 23 million people, igniting a brutal 13-year civil war that killed more than 500,000 people, according to the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights. Millions more fled to Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Europe. The Assad dynasty manipulated sectarian tensions to stay in power, a legacy driving renewed violence in Syria against minority groups, despite promises that the country's new leaders will carve out a political future for Syria that includes and represents all of its communities. The International Criminal Court is not bound by head of state immunity and has issued arrests warrants for leaders accused of atrocities – like Russian President Vladimir Putin in Ukraine, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Gaza, and Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines. The Syrian government denied in 2013 that it was behind the Ghouta attack, an accusation that the opposition rejected, because Assad's forces were the only side in the brutal civil war to possess sarin. The United States subsequently threatened military retaliation, but Washington settled for a deal with Moscow for Assad to give up his chemical weapons' stockpile. Assad survived in power more than a decade longer, aided militarily by Russia and Iranian-backed proxies. Activists and human rights group accuse him of using barrel bombs, torture and massacres to crush opponents. But then in late 2024, a surprise assault by rebels swept into Aleppo and then Damascus, driving Assad to flee to safety to Russia on December 8, 2024. New warrants after Friday's ruling in France could lay the groundwork for the former leader's trial in absentia or potential arrest, if he travels outside Russia. Any trial of Assad, whether in absentia or if he leaves Russia, would mean this evidence could then 'be brought to light', Ms Pena said, including an enormous trove of classified and secret evidence amassed by the judges during their investigations. Syrians often took great personal risk to gather evidence of war crimes. Mr Darwish said that in the aftermath of a chlorine gas attack in Douma, for example, teams collected witness testimonies, images of devastation and soil samples. Others then tracked down and interviewed defectors to build a 'chain of command' for the Syrian government's chemical weapons production and use. 'We link it directly to the president himself, Bashar al-Assad,' he said. Syrian authorities are now investigating nearly 300 people for crimes during several days of fighting on the coast earlier this year. T The interim authorities in Damascus have pledged to work with the United Nations on investigating further war crimes of the Assad government and the civil war.


Daily Mirror
7 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Putin ally goes on mad WW3 rant - with threat of nuclear annihilation for UK
Vladimir Putin ally Nikolai Patrushev has warned that UK risks nuclear war with alleged provocations amid rising Ukraine strikes, including a fake torpedo plot Russia has accused Britain of trying to spark a nuclear World War 3 by provoking Moscow and scheming to drag Donald Trump into a showdown with Vladimir Putin. In a chilling warning, top Kremlin powerbroker Nikolai Patrushev, an important ally to Putin and former head of the FSB spy agency, claimed the UK is plotting "sophisticated anti-Russian provocations" alongside Ukraine in the Baltic Sea. Among the bizarre allegations was a plan to stage a fake Russian torpedo attack on a US warship, and even the planting of old Soviet anchor mines in the region to blame Moscow. Patrushev, 74, claimed that Britain had been handed Russian-made torpedoes by Ukraine for use in such a false-flag stunt, which he claims was designed to derail talks between Moscow and Washington and force America to ramp up weapons supplies to Kyiv. The claims come as Russia flexes its military muscle with the massive 'July Storm' war games, involving over 150 combat ships, 120 warplanes, and 15,000 troops, with live missile launches and nuclear subs prowling the seas. One submarine, the atomic-powered Oryol, has reportedly carried out simulated missile strikes on a mock Western target. And in a further escalation, Russia's infamous 'Doomsday Radio', often linked to nuclear mobilisation, has begun pumping out cryptic codewords, including 'Himalayan', 'Pekinsky' and 'Kommunike'. Patrushev pulled no punches as he warned of a potential hot war with the West, saying: 'Submarines are capable of cooling any hot head." He blasted NATO's movements as 'rehearsals for full-scale aggression' and claimed the West is pushing Moscow to the brink, the Express reports. Russian military chiefs say British and American nuclear submarines are shadowing their territory, running regular patrols dangerously close to Russian waters. Patrushev added: 'Russia does not seek confrontation, but will defend itself by all means available. Any test of our combat readiness will be met with an immediate and harsh response.' Meanwhile, war is raging inside Russia's own borders. Overnight, Ukrainian strikes rocked multiple strategic targets, as Kyiv's forces hit back with precision-guided HIMARS missiles. In occupied Donetsk, a suspected Russian army HQ near the Zasyadko mine went up in flames. Further south, a massive blaze tore through the Tambov Gunpowder Plant, a vital supplier to Putin's military, reportedly following a drone attack. More Ukrainian drones targeted the Azot chemical plant in Stavropol, which is key to artillery shell production, in a wave of nearly 40 strikes. Chaos erupted across southern Russia as drone raids hit Sochi's busy Black Sea airport, delaying dozens of flights, and crippled railways in Rostov and Krasnodar. Two civilians were injured when a passenger train was struck in Timashevsk. Elsewhere, airports in Vladikavkaz, Grozny, Nalchik, and Tambov were all temporarily shut down amid the drone bombardments. But Russia hit back with overnight strikes rained down on Kherson, cloaking the city in smoke, while brutal bombardments in Kharkiv a day earlier killed two and wounded 40. Back in Moscow, speculation is swirling that Putin's powerful aide Patrushev is lining up his son Dmitry, a 47-year-old deputy prime minister, to succeed the Russian leader when he eventually steps down. With nuclear drills, drone wars, and veiled threats flying in all directions, tensions between Russia and the West are now edging frighteningly close to the point of no return.


Daily Mirror
7 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
'Decapitated' corpses found at Russian plane crash site as 48 passengers killed
The plane crash in Russia's far east took the lives of everyone on board - resulting in a horrifying crash site and a three-day period of mourning established by officials Charred and decapitated bodies have been found in the Amur region of Russia, where a passenger plane crashed yesterday. The aircraft, from the Soviet-era, was flying from the city of Blagoveshchensk to the remote town of Tynda. There were 48 people on board, including children - but no survivors. The Antonov AN-24 plane had been preparing to land when the crash occurred. The burning fuselage was seen by a search helicopter after it disappeared from radar screens. The Far Eastern Transport Prosecutor's Office said that it had been attempting to land for a second time, after failing to touch down the first time. One witness at the crash site said: 'Everything has been destroyed, and there are only corpses.' Another told the Russian defence ministry TV channel, Zvezda: 'They're not letting anyone near them because everything is scattered around, scattered and decapitated bodies. In short, it's horrible…..' Governor Vasily Orlov asked people 'not to trust unverified information' relating to the crash. He shared on Telegram in Russian that rescuers and investigators were working at the crash site, adding: 'Flight recorders have been found and will soon be delivered to Moscow for decoding.' Orlov also confirmed that officials were working with the victims' relatives and that 'psychological and medical assistance has been provided'. A temporary accommodation centre has been set up, and the mayor's office has booked 'all available hotels' for relatives. A three-day mourning period has been declared in the Amur Region, ending on Sunday 27th, which will see flags lowered across the area. Residents brought flowers, toys, and candles to a vigil in honour of the deceased, and the governor wrote: 'I once again express my deep condolences to the families and friends of the victims. The entire region mourns with you.' During a meeting to discuss the submarine forces of the Russian Navy, President Putin held a minute of silence for the victims of the crash. He said: 'Before we start our work, I would like to say – and you know it – that a civilian aircraft has crashed in the Amur Region today, claiming dozens of lives. I would like to offer condolences and words of sincere sympathy to the families and friends of the victims in this air crash.' Four years ago, on July 6th 2021, Russia experienced another fatal plane crash. All 28 people on board the Antonov-26 died when the aircraft crashed in Palana. Part of the aircraft was found on the Pyatibratka hill, and another part was found in the sea. Due to the challenging landscape of the region, the search and rescue operations were deemed to be difficult - and at one point, operations had to be postponed because of high waves. A three-day mourning period was declared in the region after the tragedy.