Searches on Kuril Islands. Criminal Case Initiated Against Two Women for Their Faith

On November 23, 2023, on Iturup Island security forces searched the homes of two women who practice the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses. Olga Kalinnikova, 47, and Larisa Potapova, 59, were placed under a recognizance agreement.

A three-hour search took place in the apartment of Olga Kalinnikova, who lives with her minor daughter in the town of Kurilsk. The operation was led by K.P. Deshko, investigator of the Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Sakhalin Region. Electronic devices, various data storage devices, notebooks and personal notes were seized from Kalinnikova. According to her, law enforcement officers spoke rudely about the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses.

On the same day, at about 9 a.m., representatives of the border guards of the FSB of Russia with two attesting witnesses went to Larisa Potapova, who lives in the village of Reidovo. The security forces seized the Bible and other books, as well as video discs. The believer's elderly mother who is 87, felt ill as her blood pressure rose sharply due to great stress. After the search, Larisa was interrogated in the investigator's office.

The Korsakov Interdistrict Investigative Department of the Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation had already initiated a criminal case against Olga Kalinnikova and Larisa Potapova on October 12, 2023. Investigators suspect the women of "extremist activity," by which they mean conversations with local residents about God.

On Sakhalin, this is the fourth criminal case for believing in God.