Aum Shinrike's branch in the Russian Federation is listed as a terrorist and extremist organization

The Russian structural subdivision of the international terrorist sect Aum Shinrike, which is banned in Russia, has been included in the list of terrorists and extremists of Rosfinmonitoring. The updated list was published on December 18 on the agency's website.

"589. Russian structural subdivision of the international terrorist community Aum Shinrike," reads a line in the list.

The sect appeared in Japan in 1987. It is also known as "Aum" and "Aleph," and has subdivisions in Russia, the United States, Germany, Australia and Sri Lanka. The sect itself was recognized as a terrorist organization in Russia in 2016. The organization is involved in murders and mass chemical attacks - for example, on March 20, 1995, the sect's followers sprayed paralytic sarin gas in the Tokyo subway. Then 13 people died, about 6.3 thousand were poisoned.

Japanese authorities are actively fighting the spread of the sect - in particular, in 2004 the court found its leader Seko Asahara guilty of organizing a terrorist attack in the Tokyo subway and sentenced him to death. The sentence was carried out only on July 6, 2018, and six of his close associates were executed along with the leader, including the sect's "military minister" and a poison gas developer. Another six members of the organization were executed on July 26 of the same year.

Later, in November 2020, a court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced the head of the Russian branch of Aum Shinrike, Mikhail Ustiantsev, to 15 years in a strict regime colony.