Shaman's journey: The Siberian who vowed to exorcise Putin
The story of the self-proclaimed Siberian shaman who made several attempts to march on Moscow returns. He claimed he needed to perform exorcisms on Putin, and surprisingly, the Kremlin took his declarations seriously. How did Aleksandr Gabyshev's fate unfold?
A few years ago, Aleksandr Gabyshev became widely known. Calling himself a shaman, the Siberian resident was not afraid to criticise Vladimir Putin. This criticism took quite a surprising form. In 2018, he began his march to the Kremlin, where he wanted to perform exorcisms on Putin. After covering 1,900 miles, his march was halted by the authorities.
This did not dampen the shaman's enthusiasm. He made further attempts to march on Moscow in 2020 and 2021. The Kremlin authorities reacted to his actions in quite a surprising way. Although few took the declarations of the self-proclaimed shaman seriously, Vladimir Putin seemed to treat them with surprising seriousness; something even pointed out by Alexei Navalny.
The last march on Moscow by Gabyshev ended with the man being placed in a secure psychiatric ward in one of Russia's hospitals, where he is reportedly still held to this day. This followed accusations that he attacked a policeman. His story resurfaces in the media occasionally, most recently due to the documentary film "The Shaman's Tale", directed by Beata Bubenets.
The mentioned documentary indicates that the Siberian shaman predicted the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. "People, new times have arrived, everything will change; this year the worldview of all the people on Earth will shift," the media recalls his words. The documentary's director emphasised that the pandemic completely changed our reality and its perception. Therefore, Beata Bubenets considered his words prophetic.
And what did the Shaman from Siberia say about Putin himself? Gabyshev argued that where "Putin is, there are always catastrophes, terror and wars." He added that Putin is a demon and "is not from Earth."
