Anti-cultist Roman Silantyev called the Ukrainian leadership “neopagan and occult” and explained that an independent Ukraine will soon no longer exist.
by Massimo Introvigne
Russian propaganda insists that “cultists” were used by the United States to create anti-Russian and pro-Western feelings in Ukraine. It is thus not surprising that in occupied Ukraine Russian “cult experts” arrive to indoctrinate students with their anti-cult ideology. Roman Silantyev, a leading Russian anti-cultist who in 2009 was appointed Alexander Dvorkin’s deputy as head of the Expert Council on religion at the Russian Ministry of Justice, on June 28 and 29 came to the pseudo-Republic of Luhansk to teach seminars on “destructology, cults, Satanism, and terrorism” as part of the event “Youth of the World Against Extremism in All Its Manifestations,” timed to coincide with the Day of Youth of the pseudo-Republic.
“Destructology” is a pseudo-science invented by Silantyev that deals with “destructive cults” and “extremism.” It incorporates the main tenets of the anti-cult ideology, but with a paranoid twist typical of Silantyev. It insists on “psychological operations” allegedly carried out by U.S. and Ukrainian intelligence to promote “cultism” and Satanism, particularly in the Russosphere.
Silantyev believes in the existence of a “misanthropic Satanism” that he also calls “Columbine” (from the high school massacre in Columbine, Colorado, in 1999). This movement is based, Silantyev says, on the ideas of the Church of Satan of Anton LaVey, and is responsible for the killings perpetrated in high schools in various countries by armed teenagers. In fact, Silantyev claims, it is the result of experiments in a new form of terrorism carried out by both the CIA and the Ukrainian intelligence, with the latter actively trying to export “Columbine” Satanism into Russia. Of course, there is not such a movement as “Columbine Satanism,” and there is no evidence that the authors of the Columbine or other shootings were inspired by LaVey’s Satanism.
Silantyev inter alia taught students in Luhansk, which included some from the areas newly “liberated” by the Russian Army, how to combat “misanthropic Satanism” and learn “destructology.”
He also showed to the students and discussed three movies. The first was “Next to Us,” an anti-cult propaganda film directed by Archpriest Alexander Novopashin, a “corresponding member” of the European anti-cult federation FECRIS and the Vice President of the largest Russian anti-cult organization, whose ideas are not less paranoid than Sylantiev’s. Novopashin recently called the Ukrainians “cannibals” in addition to “Satanists.”
The second film, perhaps more entertaining for the students, was “Damascus Time,” a 2018 Iranian movie celebrating the alliance of Iran and Syria against ISIS, which has been described by international critics as a propaganda piece that, although directed by the celebrated Ebrahim Atamikia, failed to persuade the Iranian audiences themselves.
Curiously, the third film Silantyev showed was “Four Lions,” a 2010 British comedy about four wannabe Islamic terrorists. Although the director, Chris Morris, had the script pre-checked by Islamic representatives, and warned repeatedly that it was not intended as an indictment of Islam, Silantyev actually took the comedy as if it was a serious study about terrorism, and claimed it showed how young Muslims in the West are brainwashed into becoming terrorists.
Recently, Silantyev also addressed concerns about the fact that the branch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church affiliated with the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) has announced that it will break ties with Moscow in protest against Patriarch Kirill’s support of Putin and the invasion. Silantyev explained that this is not a problem because the existence of the UOC-MP is connected with the existence of a state called Ukraine. When this state as an entity separated from Russia will cease to exist, which will happen soon, the so-called Ukrainians will simply become members of the Russian Orthodox Church. As long as there will remain “unliberated” areas not under the control of Russia, “no one will need a Ukrainian Church in the unliberated Ukraine. Normal people there will go underground, and will just wait for the Russian military to arrive.”
For the time being, Silantyev expressed his pleasure that in Russia “our President, our Minister of Defense, are Orthodox. Our elite is Orthodox, unlike the Ukrainian one, which is largely neopagan and occult.”