IDEOLOGICAL CENTER OF ANTI-CULT GROUPS
Narrator: The ideological center of the entire transnational network of contemporary anti-cult movement and the chief developer of its propaganda methods is the Russian Association of Centers for the Study of Religions and Sects, abbreviated as RACIRS. The basis of RACIRS is the Center for Religious Studies in the name of Hieromartyr Irenaeus of Lyon, established in 1993. This center was founded by the anticultist Alexander Dvorkin with the blessing of the then Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, Alexy II.
RACIRS representatives cover their activities under the guise of an allegedly “noble” mission of defending the interests of the country’s titular religion, namely Orthodox Christianity. However, the real situation is far more Аcomplicated. Within the religion itself there are individuals who, while outwardly adhering to Orthodoxy, actually support anti-cult movements. These individuals act in unison, pursuing their own goals and benefits, which have nothing to do with religion itself. Therefore, it’s crucial to distinguish between religion as a system of values and beliefs and those who have infiltrated it with malicious intent to use it as a cover for their destructive activities.
These anti-cult operatives and their allies within the Russian Orthodox Church have turned this country into a staging ground for their activities and launched a targeted terrorist attack on democratic countries from there.
The radical ideology of RACIRS, which originated in Russia, now extends its influence far beyond its borders. Anti-cult organizations hold particularly strong positions in China, France, and Germany, where they have secured significant support from authorities or individual representatives. This support allows them to exert influence over legislative, judicial, and law enforcement bodies. One of the prominent representatives of this international terrorist network is the European Federation of Centers for Research and Information on Sectarianism (FECRIS), headquartered in Paris.
| FECRIS is a group of anti-cult organizations with about 18 representations, primarily in 30 European countries. The headquarters and operational center of FECRIS are located in Paris, with 90% of its funding coming from the French national budget. It holds participatory status with the Council of Europe and consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). According to its charter, FECRIS claims to be politically, philosophically, and religiously neutral. However, it has been repeatedly caught engaging in reprehensible behavior and actions that have infringed upon the honor and dignity of citizens, leading to legal proceedings. |
France, a country with a long tradition of democracy, has unexpectedly become part of the criminal anti-cult movement’s scheme, with 90% of FECRIS’s activities funded by the state budget. Additionally, anti-cult activities are institutionalized in France through the Interministerial Commission MIVILUDES. However, the actions of this commission, as well as those of FECRIS, have repeatedly faced criticism from the international community, including for employing violent deprogramming methods (forcing individuals to renounce their beliefs through literal tortures) against members of various religious groups.
Both FECRIS and RACIRS comprise a number of organizations. The FECRIS and RACIRS networks are closely interconnected. They operate under a unified policy, use identical methods, and maintain close relationships.
For instance, Alexander Dvorkin, president of RACIRS and Russia’s leading anticultist, also served as vice-president of FECRIS and still remains a member of its board of directors. Additionally, RACIRS vice-president and Dvorkin’s associate, Orthodox Archpriest Alexander Novopashin, is also a corresponding member of FECRIS.
Currently, the participation of RACIRS representatives within FECRIS has been officially suspended. This was done to conceal the influence of Russian participants on FECRIS’s ideology and to avoid accusations of active support for Russian propaganda against Ukraine during the escalation of the military conflict between these two countries.
Despite their official charters claiming adherence to international conventions on human rights and freedoms, the reality is that anti-cult organizations operate in a starkly different manner. Since their inception, these anti-cult organizations have repeatedly discredited themselves through anti-democratic and unlawful activities, which include the deliberate spread of lies and slander, intentional incitement of violence, the use of destructive manipulative techniques, the instigation of conflicts fueled by interreligious hatred, and the targeted persecution of dissenting groups, sometimes even leading to physical assaults.
Officially, the anti-cult umbrella organization FECRIS includes groups based in Europe, while RACIRS encompasses organizations in Russia and the CIS countries. Вoth associations actively collaborate with anti-cultists from the United States.
American anti-cultist Steven Hassan has attended conferences organized by FECRIS. Hassan was also a guest lecturer at one of educational clubs in Russia, where the anti-cultist Alexander Dvorkin is a regular lecturer, too. Moreover, Hassan has repeatedly traveled to Russia with his lectures at the invitation of Russian anticultists.
Dvorkin published a book titled “10 Questions to an Obtrusive Stranger,” which entirely mirrored a chapter from Hassan’s book. Moreover, Dvorkin actively recommends Hassan’s books, and their rhetoric about the dangers of cults is identical, often echoing each other word for word.
This synchronization of narratives indicates regular information exchange and collaboration, suggesting a direct and close relationship between Hassan and Dvorkin. A closer examination reveals the influence of the anti-cult ideological center on both social and political processes in the United States. This will be discussed in more detail later.
Another fact pointing to the influence of the anti-cult ideological center on the US is that in the 1990s, American newspapers, including prestigious outlets like The New York Times, suddenly began actively quoting Alexander Dvorkin and his subjective assessments of so-called “cults” not only in Russia but in other countries as well.
Doesn’t it seem odd that the comments of a Russian cult expert suddenly appear in such well-known newspapers as The New York Times? It’s noteworthy that the views and comments of a relatively unknown Russian cult expert were featured in The New York Times, despite the usual difficulty of achieving such exposure even for top-level experts. This could be the result of financial investments, or bribery of the media, or even the presence of certain influence agents within the media. Regardless, this indicates the existence of a coordinated force to integrate the opinions of Russian extremist anti-cultist into American publications.
Now, using the activities of the umbrella organizations FECRIS and RACIRS, and their leaders as examples, let’s examine the criminal methods of their operation, which might qualify the activities of anti-cult organizations as terrorist acts. How do anti-cult organizations operate, and what is their role in executing the enemy’s global plan to destroy democracy?
Washington: In the flood of news, many of you have come across terms like “destructive cults,” “totalitarian sects,” or even “killer cults.” Representatives of anti-cult organizations label selected groups without relying on factual evidence, police investigations, or thorough complex theological analysis. Instead, they follow entirely different playbooks, which have no relation to theoretical science or even to objective reality.
Narrator: While the term “cult” is a key stigmatizing term in the United States, in Europe and the post-Soviet countries, this role is played by the term “sect,” especially “totalitarian sect,” which also carries a strong derogatory and stigmatizing connotation. Since 1993, the anti-cult movement ideologue Alexander Dvorkin has widely introduced the term “totalitarian sect” into post-Soviet media. The term “totalitarian,” borrowed from political science and propaganda language of the Cold War era, evokes associations with oppression, camps, imprisonment, barbed wire, forced labor, and meager food. Thus, this term is used to incite fear, anxiety, and a biased attitude toward the members of organizations labeled as “totalitarian sects.” The vagueness of the terms “totalitarian sect” and “destructive cult” allows anti-cultists to baselessly categorize any organization under these labels.
Washington: However, the use of terms such as “sect,” “cult,” “totalitarian sect,” and “destructive cult” is not supported by the laws of most countries or international legal documents. These terms lack legal justification, and their use contradicts the legislation on freedom of conscience and religious associations. Nonetheless, anti-cultists continue to use these terms as weapons of accusation and incite the media to use them.
Narrator: The illegal activities of the anti-cult movement do not go unnoticed both internationally and within Russia, where representatives of academic and legal circles highlight the fraudulent and criminal nature of anti-cult organizations in general, and their chief ideologue, Alexander Dvorkin, in particular. Alexander Dvorkin’s activities are also condemned in the United States, where a legal assessment of him was provided in a special report for the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). 
The main responsibilities of this commission include reviewing the facts and circumstances of universal religious freedom violations and making policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and Congress. Here are some findings and recommendations provided by Jason Morton, a policy analyst, for the USCIRF in a report titled “The Anti-cult Movement and Religious Regulation in Russia and the Former Soviet Union”: “Dvorkin has long provided the anti-cult movement with a veneer of intellectual credibility… Alexander Dvorkin and his associates have carved out influential roles in government and society, shaping the public discourse on religion across numerous countries. Claiming to be experts in academic fields like religious studies, psychology, and sociology, they are rarely qualified in any of them and often rely on discredited theories and methodologies to promote their ideological agenda.”
“The anti-cult movement is fundamentally a propaganda outlet conducting a highly effective information war against religious minorities throughout Russia and many of the countries in which it retains influence.”
“The U.S. government should:
- Publicly censure Alexander Dvorkin and the Saint Irenaeus of Leon Information-Consultation Center (SILIC)) for their ongoing disinformation campaign against religious minorities; …
- Counter propaganda against new religious movements by the European Federation of Research and Information Centers on Sectarianism (FECRIS) at the annual OSCE Human Dimensions Conference with information about the ongoing involvement of individuals and entities within the anti-cult movement in the suppression of religious freedom.”
Washington: Thus, representatives of the anti-cult movement do not hold a scientific position or have research motives, although they often disguise themselves as such. In reality, they intentionally introduce the concepts of destructive cults and totalitarian sects into the information space, using them to incite hatred and religious intolerance in society. The criteria and accusations they use to classify certain organizations as “cults” and “sects” are not recognized both in academic circles and within the legal framework.
Attaching a harshly negative label is the first step in a systematic scheme of conducting information terrorist attacks. The goal is to transform followers of peaceful organizations and law-abiding citizens into objects of hatred and hostility without any factual basis.
DEHUMANIZATION
Narrator: The process of dehumanization is the first step in the actions of anti-cult organizations aimed at eliminating those they find undesirable. This method is used to push the victim out of the social field, making them highly vulnerable. After all, if a group of people or an individual is labeled a “cultist” or “cult member,” the victim immediately loses his or her human image. This stigmatization creates the conditions for further violations of human rights and freedoms. Dehumanization serves to justify future crimes, dull the conscience and critical perception among the population. Dehumanization is the processing of society to accept and participate in future crimes. Presently, anti-cult terrorists have managed to implant the following mindset in the masses: “cultist” equals “non-human.”
To achieve their goals, representatives of anti-cult organizations utilize the media, propaganda, the dominant religion in their country, law enforcement agencies, and even governmental structures.
|
Excerpts from interviews: |
Washington: Right now, while you were listening, some of you might have had thoughts in the background like, “What’s wrong with what the anticultists are saying? Cults are indeed dangerous. And all cult members are brainwashed, foolish, or deceived people.” You might be surprised when I tell you that these thoughts are not your own personal convictions. These thoughts are actually the result of the anti-cultists’ efforts to artificially implant these destructive images into your subconscious through the information field.
Many of you, when hearing the words “cult” or “sect,” recall real examples of dangerous cults you have heard about in the media, whose activities have caused harm to people and society. The term “cult” is associated with personal danger: images of mass suicides, women who have been victims of sexual exploitation, the erratic behavior of cult leaders bordering on psychopathy, and zombified followers who unquestioningly give all their money and property to their leader.
However, think about how long ago did you meet such things in real life? And what is your knowledge of new religious movements, aside from the negative images spread by anti-cultists? Of course, it must be acknowledged that among the founders of new religious movements, there are individuals engaged in fraud and deliberately exploiting the trust of citizens for personal gain, including committing illegal acts and crimes. But how can representatives of anti-cult organizations help in this situation?
These cases should be handled by law enforcement agencies, since they bear the main responsibility for protecting citizens from such threats. In such cases, they must conduct the necessary investigation, collect evidence of illegal activity, and only after that should all perpetrators be prosecuted according to the law, and the criminal organization be terminated.
However, when it comes to anticultists, everything happens in reverse order: first, they make baseless accusations and attach labels, comparable to accusations of committing grave crimes, and only then do they seek the involvement of law enforcement agencies and the initiation of criminal cases. However, the majority of such cases are based not on facts or results of objective investigation, but on rumors, slander, false testimonies, and labels affixed by anticultists.
This particular characteristic of the strategy employed by all anti-cult organizations reveals their actual goals and intentions. They do not aim for an objective analysis of religious organizations to identify potentially dangerous ones. Instead, they are focused on discrediting and shutting down any groups they choose as targets. They achieve this by violating basic rights and freedoms, employing a range of manipulative methods, smear rhetoric, and hate speech. Because their true goal is not the stigmatized groups they’ve discredited and persecuted, but the entire society that will be watching this public execution. Their goal is to carry out acts of information terrorism aimed at undermining society, destabilizing the situation in the country, and ultimately, destroying democracy.
Narrator: One of the tactics used by anti-cultists is to justify the unwarranted persecution of modern religious organizations by citing historical examples where certain extremist groups, labeled as cults, committed real crimes. From these isolated cases, a false conclusion is drawn about the danger of all new religious movements without exception, regardless of their origin, goals, or values.
The method of “guilt by association” is a manipulative tactic where the targeted organization is intentionally linked (or associated) with negative images of extremist groups, terrorist organizations, criminals, and dictators who are already viewed negatively by the public. This tactic is further amplified by a deliberate distortion of fragments of the target organization’s teachings, taken out of context, which contributes to the demonization of the group’s image.
As a result, an aura of danger is deliberately created around the undesirable organizations and their members, accusing them of crimes despite the lack of direct evidence of any harmful activities. Such actions by representatives of anti-cult organizations denote a complete violation of the presumption of innocence, as proclaimed by Article 11 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that every person has the inherent right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty according to law.
Violating the presumption of innocence is an illegal act aimed at spreading intentional slander and misleading the public.
MASS MEDIA ARE ACCOMPLICES OF ANTI-CULT TERRORISTS
Narrator: Mass media play a crucial role in dehumanization and targeted persecution of religious and secular organizations chosen by anti-cultists as their victims. By leveraging their unofficial contacts among media representatives, including journalists, editors, and leaders of major publications, anticultists initiate and carry out large-scale and prolonged campaigns to discredit these targeted organizations. In essence, they orchestrate information terrorism.
As part of these campaigns, various methods of negative influence are employed, including the use of aggressive rhetoric, hate speech, dissemination of false information, slander, provocations, and incitement to aggression against targeted individuals. In this process, unscrupulous media representatives are recruited into this network of cooperation, willing to engage in dubious actions to achieve their goals, meaning, committing information terrorism. Thus, anti-cult organization representatives recruit the direct perpetrators of future attacks.
Additionally, anti-cultists create the image of victims from some of the recruited or interested individuals who have allegedly suffered from the malevolent influence of the stigmatized organization. The stories of these pseudo-victims are widely disseminated in defamatory media publications despite many of these tales being intentional lies.
Washington: This is how anticultists label a targeted group as dangerous and manipulative though, in reality, it is THEIR own actions that are dangerous and manipulative. Through “their people” in the media, they conduct genuine psychological processing of society. This, in turn, allows them to manipulate the aggressive sentiments of the public, the sentiments that they themselves have provoked.
They implant explicit narratives in people’s subconscious that all the organizations they label are “cults and are dangerous” and that “cult members are non-humans.” This simple formula plays on the basic instincts of every person, evoking fear for their own lives and the lives of their children, creating an image of a constantly looming threat. Naturally, the reaction to this stimulus is self-defense, with only two options: fight or flight. Since anti-cultists accompany their propaganda with incitement to hatred and encouragement of unlawful acts, the dominant response becomes “fight” or even “destroy”.
Under this scheme, anticultists can dehumanize and demonize any organization they consider undesirable, pushing it outside the bounds of the social field. When you hear the word “dehumanization,” it might seem abstract to you. If so, I invite you to listen to the stories of the outcomes of its practice on the specific example.
ALEXANDER DVORKIN’S ANTI-CULT TERRORIST ACTIVITIES
Narrator: For many years, RACIRS representatives have been spreading hostile statements towards numerous new religious movements.Their meetings, interviews, lectures, and public activities have created a hostile atmosphere in society, often leading to subsequent manifestations of hatred and xenophobia among the population. For instance, the ringleader of the anti-cult group in Russia, radical ideologist Alexander Dvorkin, has waged an active disinformation campaign against the Christian movement of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia since the beginning of his anti-cult career in 1993. Dvorkin used all forms of propaganda against the followers of this organization, from defamatory articles in newspapers, magazines, and internet portals to media appearances where he gave highly negative assessments of this religious group, accusing and portraying their activities in the worst possible light.
| Excerpt from interview with Dvorkin: “The Jehovah’s Witnesses came to an Orthodox Christian country. They insult me and my faith, and in this sense, I have the right to respond to them. My book is a response to their persistent molestation and their relentless recruitment. These Jehovah’s Witnesses manipulate the minds of their members, but they also make enormous amounts of money. Usually, when Jehovah’s Witnesses speak, they certainly squeeze out everything they can. Jehovah’s Witnesses, by definition, cannot be called Christians, no matter what they call themselves, because they do not consider Christ to be God. Jehovah’s Witnesses are undoubtedly a totalitarian sect. Because Jehovah’s Witnesses are a commercial cult.” |
Narrator: For instance, in mid-2009, Dvorkin gave an interview to the federal Russian channel NTV, where, among other harsh statements, he compared Jehovah’s Witnesses to drug dealers and called them slaves.
| Excerpt from interview with Dvorkin: “In fact, what they give for free is similar to how a drug dealer in an alley gives the first shot for free, and he might even give the second shot for free, but to get the third shot, people run to him and bring money. This is done by people for free, who live in Bethels and work irregular hours in exchange for a bed in a dormitory and meals in a common dining hall. Food comes from Jehovah’s Witnesses’ farms. Similar slaves produce the food there. In other words, the expenses are minimal.” |
Narrator: This interview, which was clearly propagandistic, contributed to a surge of hatred and aggression against Jehovah’s Witnesses and caused a drastic increase in religiously motivated crimes in Russia, including attacks on prayer houses and private homes of believers, as well as threats and brutal physical violence. Here’s a far from complete list of acts of violence against Jehovah’s Witnesses, committed by Russian citizens in 2009-2010 following Dvorkin’s speeches:
- an attack was carried out on the home of an elderly Jehovah’s Witness couple, with their windows being shattered by stones.
- a schoolboy whose parents are Jehovah’s Witnesses was attacked.
- two female Jehovah’s Witnesses were assaulted, with one being struck on the head and losing consciousness.
- two female Jehovah’s Witnesses were brutally insulted and severely beaten.
- two female Jehovah’s Witnesses were attacked, one being pushed down a flight of stairs and the other kicked in the back.
- an attack on a Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses resulted in the beating of the security guards and the building being set on fire.
| Excerpt from interview with Dvorkin: “The Jehovah’s Witnesses cult doesn’t hold up because of their ridiculous, absurd, self-contradictory faith. It holds up through the strict control of the cult.” “It’s a very strict, totalitarian sect and cult. Pedophilia… There are actually hundreds of cases of pedophilia, and the cult has covered them up every time.” |
Narrator: And this is just a small part of the consequences of merely one year of public activity by just one representative of the anti-cult movement in one country. Dvorkin’s public, extremist, and baseless statements led to a series of attacks and acts of violence against Jehovah’s Witnesses and other religious groups in various regions of Russia in 2009-2010. Numerous cases have also been recorded where large families of Jehovah’s Witnesses were harmed in various ways, had their property damaged, and had their homes burned to the ground.
All of this was done by individuals influenced by Dvorkin’s manipulative speeches, which carry a hidden message of denying human rights of stigmatized groups of people and turning them into public targets.
Washington: Let’s consider an example of using a manipulative method aimed at forming an image of the enemy and dehumanizing certain groups of people. Please note that in his public speeches, Alexander Dvorkin regularly repeats the following stigmatizing comparison
| Excerpt from interview with Dvorkin: “Another name for totalitarian sects is ‘destructive cults’. Destructive, meaning ruinous, like cancerous, cancerous cells that enter the body and spread metastases throughout the organism until the body dies. Cults behave in society like a cancerous tumor in one’s body, draining nutrients from society and feeding off it until the body itself dies. Just as a cancerous tumor destroys the body, a cult similarly destroys society from within.” |
Washington: Dvorkin’s use of such metaphors as “scorched earth” and “cancerous tumor” in relation to people who are labeled “sectarians”, or “cultists”, is not accidental. Dvorkin deliberately voices these vivid negative figurative comparisons in order to bypass your critical thinking and dehumanize representatives of those communities in your eyes, intentionally associating them with something extremely dangerous and harmful, something that requires immediate elimination.
Such a comparison activates the mechanisms of “black and white” thinking in your mind, when an object that a manipulative narrative is focused on is regarded as an absolute evil requiring unconditional rejection.
At the same time, Dvorkin himself is perfectly aware that his radical rhetoric is a blatant violation of human rights and a manifestation of extremism. So, in order to avoid direct accusations of inciting aggression towards people, from lecture to lecture he “plays safe” by voicing another manipulative statement: “We don’t fight cultists, we fight cults.” The phrase “We fight cults, and not cultists,” often used by Dvorkin and his followers, is a prime example of semantic manipulation. This statement contains a dichotomy that creates an illusion of differentiation between the concept of a “cult” as an organization and the real people who are its members. However, in reality, such a differentiation is impossible since any organization consists of people and cannot exist without them. Dvorkin’s manipulative statement ignores the fact that the activities of the organizations he called “cults” and the personalities of the so-called “cultists” are inextricably linked. This means that he calls people cancerous tumors and scorched earth, thereby causing public hatred towards them.
To make the essence of this manipulation clearer to you, please answer the following question: when you heard this comparative metaphor that “cults are cancerous tumors”, what image appeared in your mind? Some kind of abstract image of a cult? Or did you see an image of specific personalities whom you associate with the word “cult”, whom you yourself know or saw in the media? Your consciousness actually displayed an image of PEOPLE because the image and mental command that Dvorkin instilled through such verbal manipulations consists in the following message: “Cultists are dangerous; they must be exterminated.”
Such manipulative techniques used by representatives of the anti-cult clique provoke cognitive dissonance in your mind, forcing you to accept negative images without critical assessment of those. This provocation of cognitive dissonance is a form of mental violence, inasmuch as it undermines independence of a person’s thinking, forcibly instills hatred in him towards his fellow citizens, and gives him a direct instruction for violent actions. Please note that anticultists use this technique of covert cultivation of hatred to your detriment in many spheres of life, when they need to make you hate those people whom they target, when they need to set one part of society against another, causing a wave of hatred and violence within society.
Narrator: Manipulative methods used by Alexander Dvorkin constitute illegal actions that have already caused severe psychological, moral, and physical suffering among the population and have led to many deaths (details of which will be discussed later).
Dvorkin’s public statements bear clear signs of incitement to hatred and meet all the criteria of the threshold test established under the Rabat Plan of Action.
According to widely recognized international legal norms, such activities should be prohibited by law, and all individuals involved in their execution should be held accountable in accordance with the law.
Washington: Interestingly, Alexander Dvorkin, the leader of anti-cult organizations and the author of the term “totalitarian sect,” opposes the introduction of a legal definition for “cult.” This is because it would then be necessary to prove, based on facts, that an organization is indeed a “totalitarian sect” or “destructive cult” and that the accusations against it have a factual basis. As the leader of the anti-cult movement in Russia himself stated, “Most of these cases would be lost.”
| Excerpt from interview with Dvorkin: “22 years ago I started dealing with cults. I used to say that we urgently needed to introduce a legal term cult to address this issue. However, soon I realized that it is absolutely impossible to do it now, in the current situation. Because if we were to introduce the legal term cult tomorrow, the day after tomorrow courts would be flooded with lawsuits from those very cults that would be saying, “Prove that we are a cult and present all the evidence to support such a definition. Prove that we comply with this definition.” Thus, a large portion of lawsuits would likely be lost. Then, by court decision, we would no longer be able to call various organizations cults, even the most sinister and disgusting ones.” |
Washington: Definition of the terms “sect” and “cult” in the law would automatically restrict their unjustified use, which in turn would deprive anticultists of their main tool that represents a starting point for subsequent illegal actions.
| Excerpt from interview with Dvorkin: “Now, we at least don’t have such a legal term, therefore we can call cults cults. And I personally withstood five legal proceedings. In fact, any person can call an organization “cult” with no fear of punishment, if he considers it to be a cult., and there is nothing that can be done… This is what I’m expressing; it’s a religious science term, it’s a theological term. I’m expressing my opinion, and they won’t be able to do anything about it.” |
Washington: It is worth remembering that using the term “sect” or “cult” in an accusatory or demonizing way is a direct violation of the constitutional rights of citizens in a democratic society, in particular, freedom of conscience and freedom of religion. Through such actions, anticultists, who decided that they are entitled to pass such a sentence on any individual or group of people, basically seek to supersede law-enforcement agencies and the law.
Narrator: At a time when anti-cult terrorists carry out their destructive activities in various countries, introducing the mindsets they need among masses of people, the number of hate crimes against religions and beliefs is growing proportionally. A huge number of people across the world, who became targets of purposeful persecution, have been facing abuse, physical violence, and forced isolation for many years and decades. They experience mental violence, moral oppression, fear, and humiliation.
Washington: When someone tries to label you as a “cultist”, it’s extremely dangerous. Essentially, such a label in society marks you as a target that can and should be destroyed. This is similar to how the Nazis once forced Jews to wear yellow stars. This mark created a chasm between Jews and the rest of the population, highlighting their difference, marking them as “others” and “non-humans,” and making them easy targets for aggression on the part of people influenced by propaganda. The yellow star signaled that its wearers could be treated as less than human. Using the yellow star was one of many ways the Nazis dehumanized Jews and prepared the ground for their mass extermination. Ultimately, this labeling led to one of the most tragic chapters in human history — the Holocaust.
Today, anti-cultists use the same methods, assigning labels like “cult” and “sect” to various organizations, thereby separating them from society and stripping them of their status as “people.” These labels take away their democratic rights and freedoms, telling society that these people are different and that they can be deprived of their rights, treated without respect, and even with violence.
During the Nazi era, the harsh treatment of Jews was the result of well-organized propaganda. The media of that time were tools for creating the image of the “enemy” despite the lack of facts and evidence. Similarly, today, innocent people labeled as “cult” or “sect” members by anti-cultists become victims of accusations for crimes they did not commit.
Narrator: Stigmatizing certain groups and communities by defining them as “cult,” “totalitarian sect,” or “destructive cult” shapes public perception of them as highly negative and dangerous entities. This leads to the marginalization of these communities as social groups and their discrimination within society. 
They are met with suspicion, insulted, humiliated, and ridiculed. People refuse to hire them, collaborate with them, or engage in personal relationships with them. The problems these individuals face are numerous, from public condemnation, conflicts, and threats to physical violence, criminal prosecution, searches, and more.
Stigmatized individuals become targets. They are hated, despised, and avoided. They are met with anger and disgust. They can face anything from disdainful avoidance to violence, including murder. And this happens solely because anticultists chose them as targets. Constant demonization and hate speech undoubtedly have a severe negative impact on the physical and psychological health of the victim. This topic has been extensively researched by psychologists and psychiatrists.
A report published by the American Psychological Association compares the symptoms observed in victims of hate crimes to those of post-traumatic stress disorder. A study conducted in the United States in 2001 showed that victims of hate crimes experience more severe consequences than victims of other types of crimes.
Victims of prejudice — members of stigmatized groups — often experience depression, which may include sadness, fatigue, anhedonia, hopelessness, social withdrawal, or even catatonia. Victims of prejudice also experience stigma, a state of personal shame and devaluation, which is a crucial component of depression. They experience an increased number of suicidal thoughts and other mental health issues. For victims of prejudice, suicide offers an escape from the hatred they face, driven by despair and a desire to flee. Suicidal victims of prejudice do not wish to harm themselves — they simply want to avoid the harm inflicted upon them by others. A classic example of creators of stereotypes and enforcers of prejudices are the Nazis.
Washington: Branded and socially isolated, the victims of anti-cultists feel much like the victims of the Holocaust once did. The fact is, the targets of anti-cultist terrorism — whether an organization or an individual subjected to persecution and attacks — feel doomed and eventually come to terms with their situation. This is comparable to how Holocaust victims resigned themselves to their fate, knowing they were inevitably facing execution or the gas chamber. The hopelessness and fear of the inevitable traumatize a person on a subconscious level. Even though the conscious mind tries to suppress and push away this fear, the subconscious trauma remains deeply rooted. Imagine what these people experience and how their lives unfold after enduring such trauma. So, the labels of “sect” or “cult” used by anti-cultists are not just words; they are tools that lead to the destruction of the foundations of humanity. The history of Nazism’s impact on the world teaches us that when society starts to divide people into “us” and “them,” it leads to irreparable consequences.
|
Excerpts from interviews with Dvorkin: 1. Host: One of your statements: “Orthodox Christians are no better than everyone else. If they were, the whole world would have become Orthodox a long time ago. Maybe we are even worse than everyone else. But Orthodoxy is definitely the only direct path to God.” What gives you the right to state that? And I think it’s a statement, first of all. Secondly, isn’t this inciting — at any rate to some degree — of interreligious hostility or intolerance? 2. Dvorkin: The path of Indian asceticism is only to attain eternal death, to attain eternal non-being. And in this, of course, lies the demonic nature of Hinduism. 3. Dvorkin: When you see two women in the street brainwashing a mother with a stroller, you can approach her and say, “Don’t listen to them, they are cultists, Jehovah’s Witnesses. They grossly distort the Holy Scripture.” 4. Dvorkin: Muhammad, although he belonged to that powerful tribe, he was from its poor branch, so he was a rather poor man. He got a job with his distant relative, the twice-widowed Khadijah, and started leading her caravans, gaining her trust. And when he was 25 years old, Khadijah, who was then over 40, married for the third time her pretty-face clerk. 5. Dvorkin: Inciting interreligious hostility is if I insult specific bearers of one or another particular religious idea. The principle of Orthodox Christian relations with other religions is, respect for every person. 6. Dvorkin: Long before he arrived, all of Moscow was covered with posters of this man with a horse-like face, and it was inscribed that the great Tony Robbins had arrived, and everyone was wondering what this was all about… 7. Dvorkin: Then Muhammad had some strange visions and revelations. Some people believe he had epileptic seizures… 8. Dvorkin: Tom Cruise is the Goebbels of Scientology, the Minister of Propaganda. 9. Dvorkin: Thorov himself is a very gray and dark man. He speaks very boringly, he is sort of, like, a very dull, gray person… 10. Dvorkin: Who do we know, what cultists do we know? Street beggars? Annoying recruiters who knock on our doors? 11. Dvorkin: Cults are dangerous at the societal level because, unlike traditional denominations that enrich society and create culture, cults give nothing to society. We don’t know cultists who are writers, artists, music composers, philosophers, and so on. They only drain society of its vital resources. Just like a cancerous tumor pulls the vital resources from the body until it eventually destroys it. |
| 12. Dvorkin: “We can discuss each of the cults, many of them, talking about how exactly these totalitarian schemes are e mbodied in their teachings. The International Society for Krishna Consciousness, or the Hare Krishnas. This cult had a lot they would like to conceal: there was drug trafficking, arms trade, and murders. Overall, it is quite obvious that the International Society for Krishna Consciousness is a ruthless group aiming to seize power; it is built on strict totalitarian principles and dreams of spreading those principles to the entire global population. It seems clear that this is one of the attempts of the impending Antichrist. It is obvious. Perhaps, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness is one of the actual forerunners of the Antichrist who ultimately seeks to seize power worldwide. Possibly, it is through these very methods that his advent is being prepared.” “There can be no equality between Orthodox Christianity, which has existed in Russia for 1,000 years, and a tiny marginal cult like the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, which appeared here just a couple of decades ago, but loudly demands to be recognized on a par with Orthodoxy and given preferential treatment.” |
The consequences:
- A Krishna worshiper beaten in Rybinsk
- There was an attack on the temple of the Moscow Society for Krishna Consciousness.
- Football fans attacked a Krishna temple in Moscow
- In Barnaul, there was an attempted attack on Krishna worshipers.
- Krishna worshipers were beaten in Moscow.
- Skinheads attacked Krishna devotees in Yaroslavl.
- A Krishna devotee was beaten
| 13. Dvorkin: Scientology is one of the most dangerous totalitarian sects, and Scientology surpasses many cults in its destructiveness. I’ve seen many ex-Scientologists who were absolutely just severely mentally ill. I’ll repeat again: cults are very aggressive and very deceitful. With the mentality of a slave and the mentality of a whistleblower. He works for intelligence services; he’s been gathering information since he was a child, I mean he brings money, he brings information. If you’re in Scientology, when you finally run out of everything, when you run out of money and your mental health or physical health, they will get rid of you; they will throw you out on the street and forget about you. |
The consequences:
- Searches in Moscow in connection with the case of St. Petersburg Scientologists
- Court sentenced five Scientologists from St. Ptetrsburg
- Scientologists in St. Petersburg underwent searches
- Why Scientologists are persecuted
- Scientology organizations have been declared undesirable
| 14. Dvorkin: Among Neo-Pentecostals, there is a tithe, but again, no one counts it. Yet, there is such an ordinary, elementary principle of extortion. It’s an alternative version of Christianity created by the enemy of the human race, which is called Christianity and from which the entire essence of Christianity has been hollowed out. Neo-Pentecostals are three hundred thousand plus activists who will go where they are told and do what they are ordered to do. This is not a figure of speech. |
The consequences:
- Attack on the Pentecostal Church in Lipetsk
- OMON attacked Pentecostalists in Izhevsk
- Searches conducted at the homes of leaders of the New Generation Pentecostal Church
- Two Pentecostal pastors were sentenced to 3.5 years in a penal colony
- rural resident disrupted a Pentecostal worship service
Narrator: Thus, public activities of the ringleader of the Russian anti-cult clique, Alexander Dvorkin, exhibit signs of crimes associated with terrorist activities: hostile statements that create an atmosphere of intolerance, resulting in verbal abuse, threats, and physical attacks on people, as well as attacks on buildings (including arson). This is incitement to commit terrorist acts that spread hatred and endanger lives. It also hinders the enjoyment of human rights, including the right to life, liberty, and security. Therefore, according to the definition in the UN General Assembly resolution adopted on June 22, 2023, this activity constitutes terrorism.
Washington: An aggravating circumstance is Dvorkin’s deliberate use of special hidden manipulative methods and technologies aimed at covert influence, programming and control of human behavior. Their use is directly evidenced by the fact that his public activities provoked a wave of violence among the population towards stigmatized victims, including physical violence against them, up to murders. These manipulative technologies operate, bypassing critical perception through consciousness and directly affecting a person’s deep subconsciousness. It is exactly the destructive mindsets and commands implanted into people’s subconsciousness without their knowledge that force people to subsequently commit acts of violence and hatred against targeted individuals CHOSEN NOT BY THEMSELVES, but by Dvorkin. He has artificially incited a wave of hatred and negativity in people and forced them to act. In a literal sense, Dvorkin has directed those individuals, like torpedoes, against their will and desire towards his chosen targets.
Therefore, all those individuals who committed acts of aggression against other people who are just like them, but marked by anti-cultists with a yellow star, are also victims of informational terror attacks. Dvorkin had programmed them for those actions in advance at the level of subconsciousness when he used manipulative technologies in his speeches. They were literally forced to act this way, and unknowingly, by attacking innocent people, they were enacting someone else’s malicious will.
This is why Dvorkin’s speeches had such a powerful effect on people: although in the overwhelming majority of cases, evidence for his accusatory speeches was not presented, the mere utterance of these labels was enough to provoke an explosive reaction in society, and a wave of brutality against the labeled groups.
Narrator: The use of these hidden manipulative technologies within the anti-cult movement was first introduced by Alexander Dvorkin. This has since become a common practice for creating informational terror attacks by all anti-cult organizations, including RACIRS and FECRIS. These very methods enable anticults to influence people against their will. Moreover, it doesn’t matter if this happens directly through personal contact or remotely through media messages; the power of influence remains unchanged. More details about the technology itself, as well as about the source where Dvorkin received it from, will be provided a little later.
Washington: Representatives of anti-cult organizations use foul techniques of manipulative psychological influence on the masses to carry out real acts of terrorism. Until recently, it was believed that informational and psychological terror attacks were not as frightening as physical ones because they supposedly did not kill anyone directly like a bomb explosion would. But in reality, informational terror attacks are much more dangerous and destructive. Most of all, because they are conducted covertly, operating at the subconscious level, easily penetrating the critical thinking barrier of the conscious mind, and infecting people with destructive beliefs, thereby creating new terrorists. The impact radius of such attacks is much larger than physical ones because, by acting through the informational space, they are not limited by space or time. The most terrifying aspect of this situation is that for a very long time, up to today, a vast number of real terrorists have remained unpunished.
However, while their methods of influencing the depths of the subconscious can go unnoticed by the masses, the demonization and groundless accusations of groups of people stigmatized by representatives of anti-cult organizations and systematic violation of the presumption of innocence are always in full sight. Even by this one factor alone, they can now be easily identified and held accountable to the fullest extent of the law for their complicity in and perpetration of terrorism.
ANTICULTISTS’ INFLUENCE ON LAW-ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES
Washington: Public activities of anticultists are merely a preparatory stage for further involving law-enforcement and security forces in suppressing religious groups. For this purpose, under the guise of educational work, members of anti-cult organizations deliver lectures and arrange consultations for law-enforcement agencies, including police academies and security management, where they continue to propagate the same messages that cult members are a threat to society.
Such activities are not only unacceptable but also dangerous, as they aim to instill radical ideology in the minds of security officials, which can have far-reaching consequences for society and the state as a whole.
Narrator: Several eyewitness stories will help illustrate the seriousness of the problem and serve as examples of what terrorist anti-cult propaganda is capable of in the modern, civilized 21st century. First-person account from Andrei in Belgorod (requested anonymity).
Andrey in Belgorod: “There were actions taken against us. For example, in the fall of 2012, we held a congress. The area was cordoned off by Cossacks with whips; they beat drums, invited the NTV television company and local media, and portrayed our activities in a negative light. They shouted at us, ‘We’ll throw a grenade at you,’ and the police did not react at all. At some of the actions against Jehovah’s Witnesses, they wore T-shirts that said, ‘I hate Jehovah’s Witnesses.’ I was directly threatened: ‘Aren’t you afraid you’ll get hit on the head and be disabled for life?’ Given what I’ve witnessed since around 2010, I believe it will only worsen. In 2014, an elderly fellow believer was killed in Stary Oskol. She was on her way to a meeting, got into an elevator, and was found with multiple stab wounds and her eyes gouged out.
The local media wrote that she was ‘a member of one of the cults,’ which is how they often refer to us. The perpetrators were never found. Our sister was beaten in her own apartment building by a man who then dragged her around the building. Funeral wreaths with inscriptions ‘To victims of the Watchtower’ were placed at our Kingdom Hall in Belgorod, and swastikas were painted on the building’s walls.”
I believe that the persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses is orchestrated by the FSB. In their view, Jehovah’s Witnesses do not fit into the political framework of today’s Russia. The Fifth Directorate of the KGB used to persecute dissenters; today, it is the Directorate for the Protection of the Constitutional Order of the FSB. This is the political police. Jehovah’s Witnesses refuse military service and do not support any political forces, which does not align with the ideology of modern Russia.
I think the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) plays the role assigned to it by the FSB. If we look at the history of the ROC as it exists today, it was created by Stalin’s order in 1943. Since then, this religious organization has been a structural subdivision of the State Security Committee, which is now the FSB of Russia.
Experienced police officers have told me that they don’t understand why they are being forced to persecute people for their religion. One even said that under the current government, it has become embarrassing to work in the police force because they are detaining elderly women for talking about the Bible, apprehending people on the street for unclear reasons, breaking into apartments, and so on.
…What is happening to Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia today can happen to anyone, to any political or religious movement, such as Baptists, Pentecostals, or the autonomous Russian Orthodox Church. They are already under pressure and are at risk. The broad definitions of anti-extremist laws allow for the persecution of anyone. We know that people can be imprisoned for reposting something on the internet or for making a simple statement deemed extremist, using the law to force this into the so-called legal framework.”
Narrator: In 2017, due to lobbying by Dvorkin and members of his group, Jehovah’s Witnesses were declared an extremist organization, and their activities were banned in Russia. From that moment, the repression against them intensified and continues to this day. Members of this religious organization face arrests, searches, and prosecutions, as well as cruel treatment and even torture. Some of them, including elderly people and retirees, have been sentenced to long terms in penal colonies and imprisonment for their beliefs and religious activities.
|
News footage: Sergey Ivanenko (Soviet and Russian researcher of religions, Doctor of Philosophy): The very term “cult” is certainly used as a stigma, as a label intended to turn people away from Jehovah’s Witnesses as well as from other organizations that are also labeled as cults by anti-cult activists or other opponents. If we assess the contribution of the anti-cult movement to the persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses, I believe it plays an overwhelmingly negative role and largely contributes to the expansion of persecutions against peaceful believers who simply seek to satisfy their religious needs, guaranteed by the Constitution of the Russian Federation — the right to satisfy their religious needs, including the right to collectively profess their religion. |
|
Excerpts from interviews with Dvorkin: 1. As for liquidation of the Jehovah’s Witnesses organization, in this regard, I have no disagreement with it. 2. The ban on the organization is undoubtedly helpful. Primarily, we no longer see Jehovah’s Witnesses in the streets, and consequently, people are protected from their intrusive propaganda and recruitment. 3. When we talk about Jehovah’s Witnesses, I certainly hope that their ordinary members will at least receive administrative penalties. But I understand that I’m not a lawyer, and the law is the law. |
|
Excerpts from interviews with Jehovah’s Witnesses after arrests, searches, and prosecutions: “They poured water on my hands and started hitting them with a taser. At that moment, it was the most painful sensation.” “I was electrocuted, just like other people were.” “They hit me on the head. They hit me in the ribs, on the right side of my body.” “They put a blue plastic bag over my head, tightened it, and I began to suffocate. At the moment when I began to suffocate, they put a hand over my mouth and put a taser on my buttocks in the crotch area. I think, apparently, it was a taser, and they started an electric current.” “When I was interrogated, apparently someone was brought into the adjacent room again, so I heard everything clearly. There were electric shocks and screams.” “Some names, surnames and addresses. I said I would only cooperate with the investigator in the presence of my lawyer. Then they put a hat on my face and took me out into the woods behind the stadium.” |
Washington: This is what the consequences of dehumanization lead to. All these people are just like you. The only difference is how and what they believe in. They harm no one and infringe on no one’s rights; all they do is express their views on the world and life differently. For this alone, they are publicly stripped of their humanity, slandered, and targeted by society, law enforcement, and security agencies. Even some law enforcement officers, bound to follow orders, understand this is absurd. They are ashamed to carry out these orders but cannot disobey. As a result, ordinary people, branded by anti-cultists, along with their families, children, and loved ones, suffer immense hardships.
|
Excerpt from interview with Dvorkin: Dvorkin : Actually, we neither see nor hear them precisely because there is this persecution. Hence, they are now hiding, sitting quietly, and waiting to see how it will all end. Because if it weren’t for that, you would see them everywhere now. Host: I cannot avoid quoting the words of President Putin. On December 11th, 2018, he said, “We should treat representatives of all religions equally. We should not classify representatives of religious communities as some kind of destructive, not to mention terrorist organizations. Of course, this is complete nonsense. Jehovah’s Witnesses are also Christians. I don’t understand why they should be persecuted.” So, what do we persecute them for? Dvorkin: Firstly, I disagree with President Putin that Jehovah’s Witnesses are Christians. They are not Christians. Christians are those who believe in divinity, in Christ, while Jehovah’s Witnesses do not believe in the deity of Christ. They are Jehovists. Their main God, whom they believe in, is Jehovah, so according to the rules, they should be called Jehovists. Host: But they don’t deny Christ. Dvorkin: However, they don’t consider him God. Muslims do not deny Christ either, but they don’t consider him God; Muslims are not Christians. So, this… Host: But Muslims are not banned, while Jehovists are… Dvorkin: …Muslims are not, but Jehovists are banned… This is my position. |
Washington: You might ask: why do law-enforcement officers, who are supposed to protect people, uphold the law, and safeguard the democratic rights of everyone, openly exhibit hatred towards innocent people, insult them, and cause severe physical harm? Because, just like in the times of Nazism, the leaders of the anti-cult movement have subjected these law enforcement and security personnel to propaganda, deliberately warping their thinking, imposing the image of an enemy, and manipulating their perceptions.
|
Excerpt from interview with Novopashin: …the new presidential decree is changing the situation. We are not abandoning our mission of presence that has proven to be very effective in missionary work. But now, under the new strategy, we will act more openly, without fearing external persecution which, I must admit, does happen. There are people in power structures who find our activities irritating and unacceptable. Now, such an attitude towards us and our work will be seen as opposition to the presidential decree. I’ve been collaborating with law-enforcement and military agencies for many years, giving lectures to their personnel about the essence of modern cultism, which is poorly understood in society. This is despite the church paying very close attention to anti-cultist activities. I’ve been dealing with this issue for 30 years myself. In my presentations, I have to explain a lot to cadets, law-enforcement officers, and military personnel. I call the new presidential decree a real gift to us, Orthodox missionaries. In the section “Expected Results of the Implementation of This Strategy,” it is stated that this strategy should contribute to stabilization of the social and political situation in our country as well as to the spiritual and civic unity of the peoples of the Russian Federation, including through the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church and the broad Orthodox mission that enlightens and educates all peoples. |
|
News Footage: Reporter: According to the Memorial Human Rights Center, as of April this year, at least 635 Jehovah’s Witnesses have been persecuted in Russia, with no fewer than 568 people facing criminal charges. Woman 1: I hoped he would leave for an hour or two. However, by evening, I realized he wouldn’t return either today or probably even tomorrow. Woman 2: I couldn’t sleep for several nights. It was terrifying for me when evening came. Man: Our family’s life started to divide into before and after. “The feelings we experienced that evening — humiliation, moral and physical abuse, and much more.” Woman 3: But when militants in camouflage break in like that to old, frail people… That shocks me. |
Washington: Think about it: law enforcement officers, who took an oath and are obligated to protect the citizens of their country, are attacking peaceful members of an unjustly branded, cornered, and discredited organization. They no longer see these individuals as citizens or even as people but as soulless, inferior beings because anti-cultists have labeled them with a yellow star for believing in God differently. These are the Nazi methods imposed by anti-cult organizations. First, the label “cult” is applied by anti-cultists, and then the state assigns the status of “extremism.” Anti-cultists successfully use these methods not only in Russia but also in Europe and worldwide.
The very existence of anti-cult organizations violates one of the fundamental human freedoms – the freedom of conscience and religion. To deprive someone of the ability to believe in what they choose is to strip them of a basic need, similar to the need for food or drink. It’s as if you were forbidden to eat bread because a bunch of radical extremists decided you aren’t even human. And if you’re not considered human, you can’t behave like one. This means you don’t deserve humane treatment and cannot have human rights and freedoms.
To help you understand what these people, branded as cult members by anti-cultists and no longer protected by the law, feel, let me give you a simple example. Imagine you’re at home, sitting down for dinner. Suppose you have a habit of eating bread in a particular way. 
Maybe you prefer to separate the crust from the crumb and eat them separately, meaning you simply eat bread differently than most people. Now, because of this, the police forcibly break into your home, turn your personal belongings upside down, damage your property, scare your children, beat you, and arrest you. How would you feel in such a situation?
That is precisely how those targeted by anti-cultists feel today. What wrong have these people done? They did not break into others’ homes, they did not violate the law, and they did not force their beliefs on anyone, unlike the way the dominant religion is imposed in some countries. They did not infringe on others’ rights. They simply “ate bread” differently because it suited them better. But someone didn’t like that, so they were stripped of their humanity.
Narrator: The persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia has been widely condemned both by the general public within Russia and internationally by representatives of human rights organizations and officials from various countries. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that the persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia violates human rights. However, the persecution continues to this day, and instigators of hatred and informational terrorism, such as Alexander Dvorkin and his associates, have not been held accountable or received the punishment they deserve.
Charge: Dehumanization, the denial of individuals in any religious or ideological group their status as human beings, is an activity aimed at denying human rights, and is qualified as acts, methods, and practices of terrorism. The stance of leaders of anti-cult organizations, such as FECRIS and RACIRS, that the members of what they call “cults” or “sects” are not considered to be humans directly violates the rights of such people to legal capacity, which guarantees that every person is regarded as an individual with rights. By their statements and actions, representatives of anti-cult organizations deny the principles of pluralism, one of the most important democratic pillars. Accordingly, under the definition in the resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly on June 22, 2023, this activity is considered terrorism.
CRIMINAL SCHEME BY ANTI-CULT TERRORISTS
Washington: So, let’s summarize. The typical scheme of terrorist actions by the anti-cult movement against a targeted group follows universally precise steps. It begins with labeling the group as a “cult” or a “sect,” continues with stigmatizing the group in public opinion, fabricating accusations and criminal cases, and ends with discrimination against members of the targeted group, persecution, and the use of physical violence, up to murders.
Washington: According to this model, anti-cult terrorists can persecute absolutely any group of people, whether religious or secular — it doesn’t matter. The most crucial steps are labeling and initiating a media campaign to discredit the victim in the media. Once this is achieved, implementing the remaining steps is only a matter of time.
Narrator: In the course of organizing persecution against targeted groups, members of anti-cult movements and their accomplices engage in a range of criminal schemes, such as:
Criminal schemes implemented by representatives of the anti-cult movement:
- Spreading and implementing extremist ideology.
- Inciting conflicts on religious grounds.
- Conducting provocations against members of religious organizations based on religious hatred and/or commercial interests, including using informal connections within law enforcement and other government agencies.
- Fabricating administrative and criminal cases against religious organizations and their members through corrupt connections.
- Manipulating judicial examinations concerning religious associations.
- Preparing false witnesses for court proceedings.
- Public funding fraud
- Engaging in fraudulent activities.
Leaders and members of anti-cult organizations have repeatedly been found guilty by courts of violating human rights and freedoms.
Numerous facts and cases have accumulated where European courts in Germany, France, Canada, Spain, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and Austria have found participants in organizations affiliated with the FECRIS network guilty of numerous offenses, including defamation, discrimination, and unlawful restriction of freedom. The violations they committed have had significant consequences for religious groups and their members, including social ostracism, job dismissals, denial of employment and medical examinations, educational problems for their children, and other issues.
However, despite the clear violations of laws, anti-cult organizations continue to operate, receive state funding, and conduct their anti-democratic and inhumane criminal activities.
Narrator: The activities and rhetoric of anti-cult organizations violate universally recognized human rights and freedoms protected by international law and enshrined in international documents such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the European Convention on Human Rights, as well as the Constitutions and national laws of various countries, specifically:
- The right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion;
- The right to freedom of speech;
- The right to equal protection against any form of discrimination;
- The right to life, liberty, and personal security;
- The right to the presumption of innocence (to be considered innocent until proven guilty according to the law);
And so on
Washington: Anti-cult organizations, through their activities, completely deny the rights of millions of people to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, to freedom of belief and its free expression, which are universally recognized democratic values.
However, to accuse them only of this is akin to giving a fine to a terrorist who stormed a building and shot people just for improperly parking his car before doing so. All members of anti-cult organizations and their accomplices should be held criminally responsible for their deliberate terrorist activities.
In their charters, anti-cult organizations declare a noble mission: to combat potentially dangerous destructive religious movements to protect society from them. However, their actual goals differ significantly from the stated ones. By accusing the innocent of potential danger, they actually commit numerous heinous crimes.
If the true goal of anti-cult organizations were indeed to protect citizens, they would not violate their rights or resort to illegal methods and informational terrorism. Instead of spreading interreligious discord in society, they would approach state authorities with requests to investigate a particular organization, adhering to the principle of the presumption of innocence.
Only if a violation of the law is established through a lawful investigation and a court verdict is issued could they engage in educational activities, informing the public about the potential dangers of specific religious movements. And only after a court decision would media representatives have the right to disseminate this information in an accusatory context. Without evidence and a court ruling, no one has the right to accuse anyone, make public unfounded statements, and ruin someone’s life.
People who follow a particular belief are exercising their democratic rights. The presumption of innocence, freedom of speech, freedom of peaceful assembly, freedom of religion, and pluralism of opinions are the foundations of democracy. Upholding these rights is a genuine concern for people and society.
But anti-cultists do not seek this; their goals lie elsewhere. Moreover, they are not interested in having their targets investigated by authorized bodies and quickly shut down legally if found guilty. They need a long-term, demonstrative crackdown on innocent people.
Their aim is to instill fear in the masses and influence the authorities by provoking acts of persecution and repression against social and religious groups, staging a public execution. This is a true act of informational terrorism.
Each instance of an anti-cultist fight against dissent is a terrorist act, where each “yellow star” from them marks the beginning of a terrorist attack.
As I mentioned before, any act of terrorism is defined by its goal. The harassment of innocents carried out by anti-cultists causes double damage: first, to the victims who suffer, and second, to the unwilling witnesses of these actions, who feel powerless in the face of such injustice. Each such act is accompanied by clear violations of fundamental rights and freedoms. What do citizens see in such cases? They see that the laws in their country do not work, that their rights and liberties are being grossly violated and that the authorities turn a blind eye to this. They see that those who were supposed to protect them have sided with the enemy and are attacking them. And they understand that anyone, including themselves, could be the next to be “marked with a yellow star.”
This situation undermines trust in the authorities, provokes social tension, and increases dissatisfaction among the population. The result is a divided society, filled with hatred and fear, ready to explode and express its discontent at any moment. This, in turn, creates the potential for a sudden surge in revolutionary sentiments or interreligious conflicts.
Therefore, the actions of anti-cult organizations must be classified exclusively as terrorist activities, which is what they truly are.
|
Host: What is it anyway? Is it religious disagreements, politics, some modern trend? It’s unclear. Nikolai Svanidze: It’s an attempt to straighten all the non-straight lines, so to speak. Everything that is not ours is… whoever is not with us is against us. Everything that is not ours is hostile. In this repressive wheel that is slowly rolling, I see nothing rational in it. Because it doesn’t increase the government’s rating, it doesn’t increase trust in the authorities, it doesn’t improve anything, it doesn’t contribute to anything except increasing overall aggressiveness and general embitterment. Because any governmental cruelty increases the level of public cruelty, in fact. It always happens this way. The degree of overall cruelty rises. Besides this, I see no other consequences. And, of course, I think it makes people exasperated: it makes them bitter towards each other, towards the authorities, towards the world around, towards everything and everyone. |
Washington: In this regard, I’d like to emphasize once again that in the informational acts of terrorism committed by anti-cult terrorists, the key role is played by the media, or more precisely, by certain unscrupulous and dishonest representatives within it.
It is through their efforts that the demonization and defamation of innocent people occur. 
These same individuals, journalists and editors, are the ones who spread hateful statements and destructive messages from anti-cult organizations. By doing so, they not only shape public opinion but also provoke surges of aggression and conflicts on religious grounds.
Each stage of the deliberate persecution of religious groups, from labeling to complete suppression, is supported by propaganda in the media. These information campaigns aim to justify criminal actions and endorse the persecution of the targeted organization, which is unacceptable. Even after the victim organization ceases to exist or, worse, when its members face brutal physical violence, including fatal incidents, media representatives continue to insist that such an outcome is inevitable, necessary, and just.
In fact, these media representatives are perpetrators of informational terrorism and often instigators of direct terrorist acts.
Many people have suffered at their hands, and many continue to suffer to this day. Their efforts have caused many people to endure torture, lose their health, and lose faith in people and the future. Therefore, according to the law, all journalists, editors, publishers, and media employees who aided the anti-cultists should be held accountable for crimes related to terrorist activities.
Narrator: Each such publication violates citizens’ fundamental rights and freedoms, guaranteed by the Constitution and international legal norms. By committing acts of informational terrorism, media representatives undermine the foundations of democracy and effectively act against their own people and country, which, in the context of an undeclared covert war, plays into the hands of the enemy of the free world and constitutes collaborationism. By participating in the criminal scheme of terrorist anti-cult groups, acting deliberately and in collusion, these individuals commit treason.
An example of how the image of an organization stigmatized through the media can be further used by anticultists to destabilize the country is guilt by association.
Anti-cult groups deliberately associate politicians or representatives of authority with discredited organizations, thereby lowering their ratings and tarnishing their reputations in the eyes of the public. Ultimately, this can lead to removal of those politicians from the political arena.
As a result, in countries where anti-cultists wield significant influence, their activity undermines and destabilizes the state. Such actions benefit the enemy — the hidden forces behind the anti-cultists, because they facilitate the achievement of their strategic objectives: the destruction of democratic laws and the creation of conditions for totalitarianism.
Thus, media representatives bear full responsibility for their actions, just as all participants in this criminal scheme do. The anti-cult movement representatives, those behind them, and all who abetted them are equally guilty of a range of offenses and must be held accountable under the law.
Charge: The activities of anti-cult organizations sow panic in society, incite discord, create an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty, undermine public order and stability, and threaten the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states, as well as the protection of their citizens from external and internal threats. This destabilizing activity directly “…threatens the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and security of states,” which, according to the UN Resolution of June 22, 2023, constitutes terrorism.
Washington: It is well-known that the more religions and freedoms of opinion exist in a state, the more stable and democratic it becomes. People feel freer and more courageous; they are ready to defend their country, serve it, and contribute to society. Pluralism of opinions ensures safety and stability by preventing the concentration of power in one set of hands. This is precisely why the First Amendment was added to the U.S. Constitution. 
However, the actions of anti-cult organizations threaten this diversity and endanger states themselves by provoking the destabilization of the democratic system, which, according to international acts, is also a form of terrorism.
The long-term nature of such terrorist acts and the use of secretive manipulative technologies has made their execution inconspicuous for a long time. It has complicated the proof of guilt of their organizers. But now the time has come when all individuals involved in such actions — representatives of anti-cult organizations, the media, law enforcement, security forces, those engaged in persecution, searches, arrests, falsified trials, as well as politicians and individual officials — must be identified, held accountable, and punished to the full extent of the law for treason, creating an international terrorist network, complicity in terrorist activities, and THE SYSTEMATIC EXECUTION OF TERRORIST ACTS.
Narrator: Charge: The activities of anti-cult organizations represent a new, dangerous form of terrorism. Therefore, the international network of the anti-cult movement must be recognized by the global community as a network of terrorist organizations. 
The UN Resolution of June 22, 2023, clearly established this by providing a comprehensive definition of terrorism.
Terrorism “are activities aimed at the denial of human rights, fundamental freedoms, and democracy,” and actions “…impeding the enjoyment of political, civil, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to life, liberty and security…” In other words, these are actions or practices that directly or indirectly undermine or violate fundamental human rights and freedoms and the principles of democracy.
HOW TO DEFEND YOUR RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS
Narrator: The public must be informed about the potential dangers of informational terrorism and possess the necessary knowledge to recognize it in the daily flow of news and information from social media and other media platforms.
Right now, every citizen who is aware of the signs of informational terrorism can take active steps to prevent it.
Suppose you discover instances of informational terrorism in the media in your country. In that case, you have the right and duty to contact the Attorney General and demand an appropriate investigation and measures to stop the activities of the group committing that. Competent authorities must promptly take measures to establish the fact of a terrorist act in the public domain or refute it with appropriate evidence. 
In accordance with the principles of the rule of law and democracy, the Attorney General must publicly report on the work done within a set timeframe.
Suppose the fact of an informational terrorist act is confirmed. In that case, people should be informed about its goals, objectives, and the extent of the harm caused to reduce the negative consequences of the attack.
Since informational terrorist acts are conducted in the public sphere, the quicker society reacts to them, and the faster competent authorities take measures to neutralize them and hold those responsible accountable, the less harm these terrorist acts will cause to the entire society.
Conversely, suppose an informational terrorist act occurs, and the public and law enforcement agencies ignore it. In that case, the terrorist act achieves its goals, and the destructive consequences for both citizens and the entire country are amplified significantly. Therefore, society must monitor the integrity of the information field and promptly report any informational terrorist acts discovered in the media. And the relevant authorities must respond swiftly to citizens’ reports.
If, after citizens request an investigation into an informational terrorist act, the Attorney General does not provide a public report on the work done, does not disclose the investigation results, and does not take measures to stop the activities of those committing informational terrorism within the legally established timeframe, this should raise justified doubts about their competence. The lack of active measures from the Attorney General could be seen as possible complicity in criminal activities or deliberate aiding of the perpetrators.
In such a case, citizens have the legal right to initiate the procedure for removing the Attorney General from office for actions that contradict the interests of the people and the state. 
Moreover, if the Attorney General, in their position, allows informational terrorist acts to be committed and lets the perpetrators go unpunished, then they themselves should be held accountable under the law for aiding terrorism and participating in the activities of a terrorist network.
The presence of an individual in a significant governmental role who supports terrorism poses a serious threat to national security and the stability of the law enforcement system.
Therefore, if the Attorney General fails to fulfill their duties to protect the rights and freedoms of the people, any citizen has the right to appeal to the higher authorities responsible for appointing the Attorney General in your country, requesting that they be peacefully and lawfully removed from office.
As citizens, you must also understand your own responsibility. If you witness any form of terrorism and choose to remain silent, you similarly become an accomplice to the crime. Silence in such circumstances can be regarded as a form of criminal inaction. If you witness an attack on your rights and freedoms, an attack on democracy — do not remain silent. Inform the competent authorities. After all, the consequences of such a terrorist act will affect you first and foremost.
In light of recent events, which have made it clear how much impact information can have on the world, covering up informational terrorism is equivalent to depriving yourself and your children of a future. Therefore, if you encounter informational terrorist acts in the media in your country, report them and demand that the activities of these informational terrorists be stopped. Protect your rights and ensure a safe future for yourself and your children.
Washington: In a democratic world, anti-cult organizations should not exist at all, as their very essence contradicts democracy and the pluralism of views on which a free and equal democratic society is built. Nevertheless, this criminal international terrorist group not only exists but also openly engages in inhumane activities in full view of the global community, posing a real danger to society.
You might ask: Why haven’t anti-cult organizations been held accountable for their actions, and why do they still exist? Because for many years, this transnational terrorist group operated in the shadows, using sophisticated manipulation techniques to conduct informational terrorist acts. It took 30 years of observing their activities and a 10-year investigation to uncover their tools and methods and to establish their true goals.
The presented facts clearly show that anti-cult movements are tools of the enemy of the entire free world for conducting covert terrorist acts in the informational space. This means they consciously aid the enemy’s global plan for total power domination.
In this context, anti-cult organizations are just one branch of a network of similar organizations that use the same methods, all led by a hidden shadow force — their ideological mastermind.
All members of this network are the architects of a New World Disorder. Their goal is the destabilization of society on all fronts: political, social, cultural, ideological, religious, and others. Therefore, destructors like anti-cultists are present in many areas of public activity and occupy various levels of the social hierarchy. They do not care whom they target or for what reason; the main objective is to persecute the innocent, which allows them to create informational terrorist acts to influence the masses. They are indifferent to who holds power; they will undermine any authority. The ultimate goal of their activities is globally orchestrated mass disorder, civil war, and the complete collapse of democracy. Each of them plays their part in the unified enemy scheme to destroy democracy and establish totalitarianism.
Therefore, they draw into their network all those as deceitful and unscrupulous as themselves who can help achieve their goals. They strive to extend their influence worldwide. In some countries, they have already infiltrated the government; in others, they openly influence legislation; in some places, they even receive funding from the state. There is also a country that serves as the source of this harmful influence spreading across the globe. In this country, this “shadow force” already controls the government and is the real power.
Through their actions, this entire international terrorist group is bringing about a new world order led by the hidden enemy — the enemy that is currently reviving the legacy of nazism in a new, even more insidious form. For convenience and understanding, let’s call this new form of nazism “global anti-cultism” — after that branch of the unified network on the example of which it became possible to study the methods and schemes of the hidden enemy through years of investigation, monitoring and study of its activities.
Humanity is facing a threat of this kind for the first time because right now, there is a war, and it is a COVERT UNDECLARED war that has engulfed all of humanity.
Our investigative series will continue.
Watch all episodes of “The IMPACT” documentary.
