Russian special forces arrest Siberian Jesus

The Russian Committee for the Investigation of Serious Crimes said it had arrested Sergei Toropa, whom his followers call Visarion, and two of his assistants.

The images, distributed by investigators, show masked team members leading the long-haired, bearded 59-year-old Visarion and two other men from a pickup truck to a helicopter.

Officials from the Federal Security Service (FSB) and other law enforcement agencies participated in the operation in a remote settlement in the Krasnoyarsk Krai region of Siberia.

Torop, a former militiaman, said he experienced a revelation when he lost his job in 1989, when the atheist communist regime collapsed.

In 1991, he established the so-called Church of the Last Testament.

Several thousand followers of the Visarion movement live in remote villages in Siberia.

One of them, Alexander Staroverov, posted several videos on Facebook showing helicopters and military vehicles standing in the meadow.

Investigators said Visarion, who proclaimed himself the Messiah, and his assistants demanded money from his followers and used emotional violence against them.

The inquiry commission said it intended to prosecute movement leaders for establishing an illegal religious organization and causing “serious harm to two or more people.”

The followers of Visarion are vegetarians, they try to depend as little as possible on the outside world, they try to stock up on the necessary things and food.

“Our main goal is to do everything with our own hands to minimize our dependence on money,” Visarion said.

His followers include musicians, doctors, teachers, former colonels in the Soviet army, a former minister from Belarus, as well as pilgrims from Cuba, Bulgaria, Belgium, Australia and Germany.

In the 1990s, some of those who were all committed suicide, died due to extremely difficult living conditions, or did not receive necessary medical care.