The leader of the Doomsday cult, Pyotr Kuznetsov, may face charges over his role in 35 cultists locking themselves underground for several months. Nine cultists remain underground and two are believed to have died. Those who’ve come out are being question
Even children are being interviewed by investigators. “They wanted me, and the rest of us here, to write what they dictated to us. Well, not exactly dictated. They asked various questions, and we had to answer them. This was about our lives before the cave, in the cave, and after the cave. I refused to tell them anything,” said cult member Olga Nedogon. With Kuznetsov in hospital, divisions seem to be appearing among his followers. Their convictions that Doomsday was imminent are wavering. “If Pyotr lives with us for another three months after the hospital, the Lord may extend the period for this world’s existence. I doubt it, though, that he’ll be with us,” says another cult member Svyatoslav Aparin. Relatives continue the negotiating process as those underground are now refusing all contact with officials. A delegation of sect members from Nikolskoye village wrote a letter into the cave urging those below ground to return to the surface. It said that this was God’d will. Its receipt, though, was not acknowledged.