‘Astro-planetary karate’ loses again Argentina arrests notorious Russian cult leader after hospital scandal alerts police
On March 28, police in Argentina arrested 14 people in a human trafficking case as the suspects attempted to fly to Brazil. Almost everyone apprehended is a Russian national. Police arrested eight suspects at the airport in the city of Bariloche and another six in Buenos Aires. According to the newspaper Economicas Bariloche, Konstantin Rudnev, the founder of the Russian cult “Ashram of Shambhala,” is among the detainees. During his arrest, Rudnev reportedly tried to slit his own throat with a razor blade, but police intervened. As reported by Economicas Bariloche, El Observador, and LM Neuquen, Rudnev had arrived in Bariloche in early March with several women and had been selling yoga courses for $5,000 a piece.
A police inquiry began after a young pregnant woman from Russia was brought to a hospital in Bariloche. Though her passport identified her as 22, hospital workers judged her to be no older than 15. She was unable to say where she lived. Staff also noticed that the two women who accompanied her showed signs of physical abuse.
The hospital reported the strange case to police, who placed the woman and her companions under surveillance. On March 21, the woman returned to the hospital to give birth, again accompanied by a group of women. These companions later destroyed the document where she recorded the name of her baby’s father. That same day, police arrested the companions — five Russian nationals and one Mexican citizen. They were soon released, but the investigation continued. The young mother and her newborn were moved to a secure location.
Police later searched the house where the young woman had been living and found documents belonging to Rudnev. He fled before the search but was eventually apprehended on March 28 at the Bariloche airport. When the authorities caught him, Rudnev was wearing slippers and carrying cocaine. Among the other 13 arrested in Bariloche and Buenos Aires, at least 12 were women. Many showed signs of malnutrition, and at least one had lost nearly all her hair.
From the Bariloche house, police also recovered 131 tablets containing cocaine, 12 cell phones, a satellite phone, a Starlink antenna, 10 SIM cards, nearly $15,000 in cash, and more than 1 million Argentine pesos ($930). Officials are still investigating Rudnev’s following in Argentina, his ties to drug trafficking, and whether the women arrested with him are victims of sexual exploitation.
How Rudnev created a cult in Russia
Konstantin Rudnev is 57 years old. He was born in Novosibirsk and graduated from a mechanical engineering college. In the late 1980s, he began teaching yoga in his hometown — a practice he’d reportedly studied since school, according to the publication Snob. Later, Rudnev and his students began selling pamphlets and hosting paid seminars about achieving enlightenment. A devoted circle began to form around Rudnev, and his yoga seminars transformed into a full-fledged cult.
He began dressing in bizarre outfits, adopting new names (ranging from Sotilian Sikorisky to Shri Jnan Avatar Muni), and demanding unquestioning obedience from his followers. Rudnev’s doctrine — a jumble of paganism, Eastern religions, medicine, occultism, and much else — held that enlightenment required his followers to renounce their families, give him all their possessions, and fully devote their lives to him. He also claimed to be “a visitor from Sirius.”
The cult’s members lived in apartments Rudnev called “ashrams,” which he purchased across Novosibirsk using the considerable profits his activities generated. The group primarily comprised young women with whom Rudnev had sex, presenting it as a vital spiritual practice. Investigators later discovered that the cult practiced group sex, rape, homosexual acts, and bestiality. Rudnev’s book, The Fool’s Path, served as the cult’s “bible”; the cover featured photos of Rudnev surrounded by half-naked women in the group, whom he also liked to film. (Police seized this footage after his arrest.)
Rudnev exploited his followers physically and sexually. He forced his “priestesses” to fight one another, beat and humiliated them himself, and often starved them. Junior cult members were chronically underfed. A combination of exhaustion, forced physical activity (yoga and calisthenics), bizarre rituals (like “astro-planetary karate” and “dynamic meditation”), constant exertion, and strict control by senior cult members left these people physically and psychologically drained.
Rudnev leaves Russia after prison
The cult “Ashram of Shambhala” operated legally in Russia for nearly two decades. Rudnev amassed thousands of followers and opened branches in several cities despite complaints from the families of those who joined. Elena Zakharova, who was once one of Rudnev’s close associates, told Snob that the police became aware of the cult as early as the late 1990s, but the attention didn’t stop it from growing and attracting new followers — including businessmen and government officials.
The authorities finally arrested Rudnev in 2010 for organizing a group engaged in violence, rape, lewd acts, and drug offenses. In 2013, he was sentenced to 11 years in prison, and a Russian court formally banned “Ashram of Shambhala” in 2014.
Although the cult weakened after Rudnev’s arrest, it continued under new names. Rudnev went free from prison in 2021 after serving his full sentence and reportedly moved to Montenegro. Former followers say they suspected he would try to rebuild the cult. In October 2024, the Montenegrin authorities arrested several members of “Ashram of Shambhala” who were filming pornography at the Zabljak ski resort, though Rudnev himself was not among those apprehended.