Sect leader from Russia nabbed in Argentina after escape bid
The Argentine police have arrested Russian Konstantin Rudnev. He is the leader of the Ashram Shambala sect, founded back in the Soviet Union, who called himself "an alien from Sirius" and raped his female followers, according to local media reports.
- Konstantin Rudnev was detained at the airport in Bariloche while attempting to flee to Brazil. He was accompanied by seven women who appeared malnourished.
- Rudnev is suspected of leading a criminal group and sexually exploiting women. During the arrest, he attempted to slit his throat.
- The Ashram Shambala sect was founded in 1989 in Novosibirsk and attracted 20,000 followers, mainly young women.
Rudnev was arrested over the weekend at the airport in the city of Bariloche in Patagonia, from where he was trying to escape from Argentina to Brazil. Alongside him, seven women, mainly Russians, who looked malnourished, were detained. According to the Infobae portal, six other people were arrested at the airport in Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires.
Rudnev is suspected of leading a criminal group and sexually exploiting women. During the arrest, he attempted to slit his throat with a razor blade hidden in his wallet, but the officers overpowered him, reported TN station.
According to Infobae sources, none of the women accompanying Rudnev was older than 40. One of the investigators said the women were so thin that it appeared they were only eating scraps from leftovers, as their leader instructed them to do.
20,000 followers of the sect
According to the newspaper "Clarin," the Russian founded the Ashram Shambala sect in 1989 in Novosibirsk. It later expanded its operations to many regions of Russia and attracted 20,000 followers, mainly young women with personal problems, who were subjected to brainwashing and exploitation.
Rudnev was arrested in 1999 but escaped from a psychiatric hospital at that time. In 2013, a court in Novosibirsk sentenced him to 11 years in prison for rape, sexual assault, and drug-related crimes. According to Russian media, he was released in 2021.
It is unclear what Rudnev and the detained women were doing in Bariloche, but the press speculates that the Russian may have decided to move his operations to Argentina. Investigators suspect that exploitation or human trafficking may have occurred.
Rudnev's arrest was prompted by an investigation initiated in connection with a 22-year-old Russian woman who reported to a hospital in Bariloche in an advanced stage of pregnancy. She was accompanied by other women of Russian nationality who did not allow her to speak, and she refused to answer questions about her place of residence and the child's father's identity, raising suspicions that she might be a victim of human trafficking.
