New Searches in Vladivostok. Already More Than 30 Local Believers Are Being Prosecuted for Their Beliefs

The investigation charged four Jehovah's Witnesses from Vladivostok, including three elderly, with extremism. This happened on September 17, 2025, immediately after searches in the homes of peaceful believers.

Vyacheslav Yudin, 68, Sergey Isupov, 66, Sergey Chikichev, 64, and Andrey Yavniy, 58, do not agree with the charges. The latter appealed the charge in court. "Simply participating in a meeting for worship or reading the Bible is not a crime," he said.

Searches began at 7 a.m. and lasted about 3 hours. The law enforcement officers seized their electronics, Bibles, personal notes and cards. The officers confiscated family savings from Yavniy, as well as part of his wife's work documents, without recording them in the protocol. After the searches, the four men were taken to the Investigative Committee for interrogation.

The criminal case against the believers was initiated on September 11, 2025, by Denis Sushchenko, investigator of the Investigative Committee, who had previously initiated cases against other Jehovah's Witnesses in Vladivostok. He charged Chikichev, Yudin, Yavniy and Isupov with participating in the activity of a liquidated organization (Article 282.2(2) of the RF CrC).

As of September 2025, more than 60 people from the Primorye Territory have already faced criminal prosecution, half of them are residents of Vladivostok.