Dissenting Paths: How Scientologists bypass bans to preach in Russia

Key international organizations of Scientologists have been recognized as undesirable in Russia since 2021. But adherents of Ron Hubbard's ideas about souls from an ancient galactic empire continue their activities in Russian cities. We are talking about schismatic movements of Scientologists, who publicly distance themselves from their official "church" but profess virtually identical teachings. On how the new Scientologists continue to earn despite the bans and what are the dangers of such teachings - in the material "Izvestia".

Family contract

March 31, 2025, the FSB announced the liquidation of the cell of the Church of Scientology in Kaliningrad. "Personnel Training Center "Intention" under the guise of professional training was engaged in promoting the interests of the cult. At the owner of the firm Alexander Moskalenko at home during searches found diaries of students, literature and lecture materials of Ron Hubbard. His organization is suspected of cooperating with WISE, a company recognized as undesirable in Russia. The center was run by Moskalenko himself, his wife Susana and their daughter Kristina assisting them. A criminal case has been opened under part 3 of article 284.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Organization of activities of an undesirable NGO") with a maximum penalty of up to 6 years in prison.

The organization's website does not mention Scientology or its founder Ron Hubbard. If the law enforcers' suspicions are correct, it is most likely that the Intention Center, under the guise of business consulting, was implementing Scientology's Orgschema, a management methodology developed by Hubbard.

This is not the first time the Center has attracted the attention of law enforcement. In 2012, the organization was searched in a case of "illegal entrepreneurship" (Article 171 of the Criminal Code). There is no information in the public domain about how it ended, but it is obvious that "Intention" continued its work.

"Entrepreneurs who want to succeed are invited to "penny" seminars. Then the unofficial and already more expensive part begins, when people are drawn into auditing classes. This is a Scientology technique by which a person supposedly improves his abilities and erases the mental obstacles that prevent him from being successful. At the same time, all information is collected about the client, which is subsequently sent to the organization's foreign offices, among others. In case of a conflict, the organization can always present dirt. In the Kaliningrad company such conflicts took place, but were successfully neutralized within it", - reported a source from law enforcement agencies in the material of "Rossiyskaya Gazeta" in 2012.

Only a number of Scientology organizations are banned in Russia - WISE int, CST, Ron's Library, Narconon, Criminon and others affiliated with the Church of Scientology are outlawed. And while organizations affiliated with WISE, such as Kaliningrad's Intentions, are forced to hide their real activities, a number of Scientology structures continue to operate quite openly.

With no plans for the future

"Do you feel lost? - asks the Izvestia correspondent, a sturdy bald man in his fifties with a neat circular beard. - Do you see these dots on the graph? You put a lot of effort into doing something. But you don't trust those around you, have little understanding of what you want to accomplish, and devalue your past achievements. It's like you don't have an instruction manual for this life. That doesn't sound good, does it? You're like a wheeler-dealer. Would you like to fix that?" The venue is the office of Upfront, an organization that calls itself a "personal development center."

To get to the meeting, you had to take an online test using the Oxford Ability Analysis method of 200 questions along the lines of "do you find it hard to make independent decisions?" or "do you find it easy to fall asleep?" with yes/no/don't know. To send the results, you need to fill out a questionnaire with your name, gender, age and phone number. After 20 minutes, Izvestia's correspondent was contacted by a manager and offered to come to the company's office near Alekseevskaya metro station to get a "transcript" of the results for three thousand rubles.

The website has a detailed diagram of how to get to the organization's office. Scientologists sit on the second floor. Passage to the business center - on a one-time pass. Uptrend's office occupies a significant part of the building's floor, if not all of it. The visitor is greeted by a deserted white corridor with many doors, behind which the voices of the organization's employees can be heard. Along the walls are cabinets filled with books by Scientology founder Ron Hubbard, posters inspiring adherents of his teachings and memorable photos from public events.

The very man with the beard was introduced to the Izvestia correspondent by a "registrar" named Alex. Before discussing the test, he immediately asked the visitor who he was dealing with: "Have you heard of Scientology? Have you ever been to a Church of Scientology?" After receiving the answer that he had a general idea, Alex invited him into the office.

Before the conversation could begin, the "registrar" hurriedly removed from the table a box with a dashboard with arrows and wires with metal cylinders at the ends. It was an "e-meter," a cult item for Scientologists. They believe that the floating arrow of the galvanometer, which is the device, measures the level of "enlightenment" of the subject. To test oneself, one must squeeze the cylinders in one's hands during the interviews. In reality, the device at best shows how tightly a person squeezes the contacts.

After a few questions to the Izvestia correspondent, Alex took out a printed A4 sheet with a graph on it. These were the results of the test. "I'll tell you right away - I have no goal to offend you. I'm only telling you what I can see from your answers," the Scientologist warned. For the next half hour, he explained what the points on the graph meant in relation to the journalist's current state. The specialist's conclusions were disappointing: the subject was a depressed alcoholic with no clear plans or goals for the future.

But immediately a solution to his problems was found: the Scientology course "Inner Core". All for 28,900 rubles a month. The essence of the course: a minimum of eight hours a week in classrooms, where one must independently study Hubbard's writings on a given topic and periodically perform tasks to check the assimilation of material.

Alex was not too intrusive in imposing his services, but he guaranteed the effectiveness of the methodology if all conditions were met. "Are you ready to allocate at least eight hours a week? This is the minimum that we require from you, at which we guarantee a positive result. You can come at any time as long as the center is open, entrance to the classrooms is free. There are always students on site, so you'll find someone to work with."

Alex's schedule for receiving new visitors is tight - every hour another potential pupil comes. In parting, he gave the journalist one of Hubbard's books, shook his hand and went back to his office.

At the time of publication, Izvestia had not received a response from Uptrend regarding their activities and what they see as their differences with the Church of Scientology, other than those publicly declared on their website.

Drug Bridge to Russia

Behind the screen of personal growth training is the spread of a rather extravagant doctrine of an American science fiction writer. Scientologists believe that 75 million years ago, the evil emperor of a distant galactic empire, Xenu, sent all those who disagreed with his policies to Earth in starships, placed them near volcanoes and subjected them to nuclear bombardment (that's why the volcano is one of Scientology's symbols). He captured the souls of the dead and hypnotized them with "false" ideas and religions. Time later, Xenu himself and his henchmen were sent to our planet after a coup d'état. Now, when a new human is born on Earth, his body may be occupied by a thetan (the souls of the Emperor's murdered subjects) or the evil essence of Xenu's supporters.

The task of Scientology and Dianetics (Scientology's pseudo-science of the soul and mind) is to awaken the thetan in a person, cleanse him of harmful programs and help him pass over the spiritual "bridge" to reach the state of "clear" (pure) and further down the steps of enlightenment, breaking the vicious circle of rebirths. The bodies captured by the emperor's servants become PL (suppressive personality) and PIN (potential source of trouble). The latter can still be "saved" by taking Scientology courses. It is forbidden to socialize with PIs, even if they are family members of the adept. Scientologists do not tell neophytes the content of this cosmo-opera from the threshold, revealing it "under the cover of a terrible secret" at higher levels of initiation.

In practice, Scientologists bestow the IDU/IDP status on any of their critics and those who are simply undesirable. Interestingly, all journalists, police officers, as well as politicians, psychiatrists and communists are automatically labeled as IDUs.

The first groups of followers of the teachings of American science fiction writer Lafayette Ron Hubbard began to emerge in our country in the late 1980s. In 1994, the Church of Scientology of Moscow was officially registered as a religious organization. Then its centers appeared in St. Petersburg, Samara, Nizhny Novgorod and other cities.

Scientologists began their spread in the former Soviet Union with original programs for the rehabilitation of drug addicts (Narconon) and criminals (Criminon). So, outwardly, the organization was engaged in socially useful activities. Against the backdrop of political turbulence and economic instability, the authorities and citizens did not pay much attention to these activities.

But as early as 1996, Scientology's drug "cleansing" program was banned for use in organizations of the Ministry of Health, with a resolution to "Prevent the promotion and use of detoxification methods and other Scientology and Dianetics methods derived from R. Hubbard's teachings in health care practice," although only two years earlier it had been added to the list of recommendations by the Russian Ministry of Health. For money, Scientologists provided "detoxification" services consisting of physical exercise, dietary supplements, and five-hour sauna sessions. In 2001, the head of Narconon, former police officer Vladimir Ivanov, scandalously resigned from Scientology after criticizing the organization.

"The Church of Scientology turned out to be a denounced aggressive commercial organization that violates human rights, flouting the laws of the Russian Federation," Ivanov said at the time.

Since the noughties, law enforcement agencies began conducting inspections and bringing cases against Scientology organizations. They were accused of illegal entrepreneurship, fraud, and providing medical services without a license.

Having infiltrated a commercial organization, Scientologists implemented their "org chart," claimed to be an effective management methodology. In practice, this turned into the "Church" gaining complete control in order to withdraw funds for its own benefit.

Unwanted "Church"

The official number of Russian Scientologists has never been openly announced. Experts and media at different times estimated their number from several thousand to 10-20 thousand. Scientologists themselves cited a figure of 100-200 thousand followers in Russia, but sectologist Alexander Dvorkin, for example, put the number at 3,000 to 5,000. Scientologists in their estimates often cite the number of people who have bought training or literature at least once over a long period of time. The Church of Scientology has cited figures of 10 or 20 million followers worldwide. There are no independent studies of the number of adherents of the cult in Russia, the calculations were made either by Scientologists themselves or by their opponents from anti-cult movements.In 2011-12, religious scholar Ekaterina Elbakyan conducted a survey based on the opinion of 910 Scientologists, which is the minimum number of followers for those years. There are thousands of them in Russia, but exactly how many is unknown.

Still, Scientologists failed to establish themselves as a state-recognized religion in Russia. From August 1998 to May 2005, the Church of Scientology in Moscow applied 11 times for re-registration as a religious organization, but each application was rejected. In 2007, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the refusal to register the Moscow branch of Scientology violated the rights of believers and awarded them 25 thousand euros in compensation.

In 2010 and 2011, 29 books and lectures by Ron Hubbard were included in the federal list of extremist materials by court order, but later excluded. At the moment "Lectures to the IDU/PL course" consisting of 9 audiocassettes and one book are banned from Scientology materials according to the decision of the Shchelkovsky City Court of the Moscow Region dated 29.06.2011 and the definition of the Judicial Board for Civil Cases of the Moscow Regional Court dated 20.03.2012.

In spite of everything, in February 2011, the "Church of Scientology in Moscow" opened its branch near the center of Moscow on Taganskaya Street in a three-story building with an area of almost 5,000 square meters. More than 2,000 people attended the opening.

However, the celebration of Scientologists did not last long. Already in 2015, after a long trial, the court ordered the liquidation of the organization. "Church" had to change the signboard to "Center of Scientology".

In 2018, "PIR Bank" was liquidated by decision of the Central Bank for money laundering. Then the publication Life called the financial organization a "pocket bank" of Scientologists. The bank's director, Vitaly Pascal, filed a lawsuit to protect honor, dignity, and business reputation for mentioning his ties to the Church of Scientology, but lost. Before the bank was liquidated, its terminals stood in the offices of Scientologists and were used to pay for services. Afterward, the "Church" switched to cash.

The Scientologists moved from a spacious house on Taganskaya Street to a gray office building on Entuziastov Highway, but did not stop their activities. Finally, in November 2021, the Russian Prosecutor General's Office recognized the organizations World Institute of Scientology Enterprises (WISE) and the Church of Spiritual Technology (CST) as undesirable on the territory of the Russian Federation because of the threat to the security of the state.

According to Izvestia's source, the last straw for the authorities was the story of the machine-tool factory in Lipetsk. The FSB conducted searches at the plant to find out why the state defense order was not fulfilled, and in the end they discovered that the organization was controlled by Scientologists - some of the allocated funds were spent on the needs of the "Church," and employees were forced to undergo cult training.

According to the law enforcers' version, Scientology organizations created a network in sixty regions of the country, which was engaged in collecting finances and recruitment, including at enterprises connected with government contracts. "Church" has withdrawn more than a billion rubles abroad between 2012 and 2020.

In December 2024, the St. Petersburg Church of Scientology was declared an extremist organization. The reason was the presence of IDU/IDP materials in its courses. Long before that, in 2017, cases on extremist articles were initiated against the head of the church Ivan Matsitsky (listed as extremist and terrorist by Rosfinmonitoring under the number 9798) and four other leaders of the branch. In particular, they were charged with "ethical orders" against delinquent members of the Church who were recognized as IDUs or PWs.

Matsitsky was sentenced to 6.5 years in 2023, but was released in the courtroom because he served his sentence while in custody during the investigation and trials. The other defendants received large fines.

Scientology dissenters

The banning of key organizations opened a window of opportunity for their "competitors" in the commercial dissemination of Ron Hubbard's ideas - Scientologists from the Free Zone and Ron's Organizations. "The Free Zone was founded by Hubbard associate Bill Robertson in 1983 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. This later led to the creation of a network of independent "Ron Organizations" (RonsOrgs) around the world. After Robertson's death and up to the present, the RonsOrgs are coordinated by former Church of Scientology member Max Hauri of Grenchen, Switzerland.

The Free Zone members are enemies for the Church of Scientology, squirrels in the slang of the cult. Both sides accuse each other of misrepresenting Hubbard's work. "The Free Zone is often a haven for Scientologists who have left the Church. In general, the main difference between the Zone and the Church is the amount of money, power and influence. RonsOrgs have a much more democratic price tag for services and do not have the huge financial power that the Church has.

The oldest representative of Ronsorg in Russia is the Moscow Organization of Rona #1 (Mosronsorg). It declares about itself that it has been working in the CIS since 1997 (the website domain was registered back in 1993). The organization has two additional divisions, Aptrend (Scientology Initial Course and Auditing) and Aptrend Business (Scientology for Business). All companies are registered to IE Skrypnyuk Elena Pavlovna, who received entrepreneur status in 2021. From 2016 to 2021, the organization was registered as LLC "Uptrend", now liquidated, founded by 52-year-old Alexander Skrypnyuk - Elena's husband. It was he who spoke to Izvestia's correspondent after taking the course. Skrypnyuk is also a co-founder of the printing company Diemeji Print LLC, which produces, among other things, materials for Mosronsorg - booklets, Scientology books and training materials. Scientologists are inherently fragmented in their business, so it is not possible to identify all connections, nor is it possible to understand the actual financial flows.

Larisa Astakhova, a religious scholar who has been studying the activities of Scientologists for many years, sees no fundamental difference between undesirable organizations and "Ronsorg" in her assessments.

"And in what essentially can they differ significantly, if they are based on the same Hubbard's works, dianetics, organizational schemes and so on? We can talk about some nuances, which in general do not affect the overall picture," - said Astakhova.

She also confirmed that the existing bans have not led to the end of Scientology in Russia. Banning Scientology as a religion is difficult, Astakhova explained, because it would violate the constitutional rights of citizens to freedom of conscience and religion. However, this does not prevent individual organizations from being banned. It will still be possible to practice the faith, but it will not be possible to organize meetings. The expert notes that Scientology organizations have many more variations than Jehovah's Witnesses, which are banned in Russia, and are more difficult to track. If necessary, it is easier to shut them down based on the list of literature used, in case some materials fall into the category of extremist. The expert does not rule out that some of the organizations of the "free zone" may turn out to be the Church that has changed its signboard and approach.

The religious scholar does not consider Scientology harmless, no matter what form it takes. Hubbard's cult divides people into grades, leads to the destruction of social ties of its adherents, locking them inside the organization, completely controls their lives, collects personal information about members of the organization and then uses it to blackmail them. According to Astakhova, Scientology has postulates in its doctrine that, both in theory and in practice, infringe on the right to life, the right to liberty and inviolability of the person, and freedom of conscience.

According to Astakhova, religious groups in general do not have to be officially registered.

"At the moment they work on the principle of a religious group without notifying the Ministry of Justice, mostly, or through the system of sole proprietorship, if their activities are related to WISE (selling trainings) or selling books and it is necessary to legalize income. Scientology and Dianetics procedures are rarely advertised. The main materials are rewritten not to be associated with centralized structures and the Hubbard library," explained the religious scholar.

The banning of Ronsorgov is most likely only a matter of time, Astakhova suggests. Sooner or later, the state will turn its attention to them, and it is unlikely that judges will be persuaded by a disclaimer from the Free Zone sites: "We have nothing to do with the Church of Scientology."