Paul
Goble
Staunton, February 6 – Russians have
always been inclined to and fearful of religious sectarians seeing them as a
threat to their faith and their country, but seldom have they faced one with a
more bizarre name than one committed to driving out both Orthodox Christians
and Jews from the territory of Eurasia.
Called “USSR” for “the Union of
Creators of Holy Rus,” the sect which has branches in many parts of Russia has
attracted the attention of regional anti-sectarian officials in the Civic
Security Center, the Arkhangelsk bishopric, and Russian Orthodox and Russian
nationalist activists in Moscow (ruskline.ru/news_rl/2015/02/03/v_arhangelske_beschinstvuet_sekta_sssr/, arh-eparhia.ru/news/index.php?ELEMENT_ID=46861, anticekta.ru/?cat=112 and ruskline.ru/news_rl/2015/02/05/tretij_rim_ili_sssr2/).
As is typically the case, what is
known about this sect comes less from its members and followers than from its
opponents although the group over the last decade has established a website,
published various magazines and books, and often holds public meetings which
are covered by the media and anti-sectarian activists.
In the last few months, the USSR
sect has made its presence known in Arkhangelsk and Severodvinsky by putting up
billboards with the slogan “Before God, All are Equal” and featuring the names
and telephone numbers of its local leaders, an action that suggests that it has
money for the ads and permission from some in authority to spread its ideas.
According to anti-sectarian experts,
the USSR sect was established in 2004 when a certain Leonid Maslov, who called
himself “a world renowed scholar,” said he had begun to hear voices that he
said came directly from God. Within a few months, he attracted a large number
of fanatic followers.
At the end of last year, a court in
Taganrog in Rostov oblast found four of Maslov’s books extremist because they
contained passages insulting people of various national and religious
affiliations. Nonetheless, the USSR sect has been able to register in many
parts of Russia.
In Arkhangelsk, it is registered as
“a regional section of the Social Movement to Support the Spiritual Development
of the Population, as the Union of Creators of Holy Rus (“USSR”), and as the
Divine Monarchy-Holy Rus.” According to anti-sectarian activists, these are all
“front groups” designed to pull people in while confusing local officials.
City officials are often taken in,
the anti-sectarians say, adding that opposing sectarian extremism at least up
to now “is not a first-order task of city adminstrations.” As a result, such groups as USSR are
flourishing, despite what they are advocating and despite the findings of the
courts.
According to the anti-sectarian
sector in Arkhangelsk, the USSR sect has between 50 and 70 active measures in
the region, plenty of financing, and ties with other branches across not only
the Russian Federation but in neighboring countries as well, including Ukraine.
Those in the USSR sect “consider themselves Slavic gods” and want to set up “a
kingdom of justice and well-being under the name ‘Holy Rus’ in which there won’t
be any place for Orthodox or Jews.”
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