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Doomsday Cult Leader Pleads With Holed-up Flock

Followers refuse to release children

By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff

Posted Nov 21, 2007 2:40 PM CST

(Newser) – Self-declared prophet Pyotr Kuznetsov today asked the doomsday cult he started to release four children from their underground cave, the AP reports. Confined to a psychiatric ward and charged with setting up a violent religion, Kuznetsov was brought to the site and spoke through a ventilation hole, telling adults and children they could leave.

"If anyone has lost heart," he said, "there is no reason for them to stay underground." The 29 followers' obsession with Kuzetsov, who told them not to watch TV or handle money, means he "the only who can persuade them to get out," said one professor. Convinced the world is ending in May, the followers wait in a cave southeast of Moscow and threaten to blow themselves up if forced to leave.

A man identified as self-declared prophet Pyotr Kuznetsov is seen undergoing psychiatric evaluation in a mental hospital in Penza region about 650 kilometers (400 miles) southeast of Moscow, in this image from the television broadcast Friday, Nov. 16, 2007. Kuznetsov sent his followers underground to wait for the end of...
A man identified as self-declared prophet Pyotr Kuznetsov is seen undergoing psychiatric evaluation in a mental hospital in Penza region about 650 kilometers (400 miles) southeast of Moscow, in this image...   (Associated Press)
A man identified as self-declared prophet Pyotr Kuznetsov is seen undergoing psychiatric evaluation in a mental hospital in Penza region about 650 kilometers (400 miles) southeast of Moscow, in this image from the television broadcast Friday, Nov. 16, 2007. Kuznetsov sent his followers underground to wait for the end of...
A man identified as self-declared prophet Pyotr Kuznetsov is seen undergoing psychiatric evaluation in a mental hospital in Penza region about 650 kilometers (400 miles) southeast of Moscow, in this image...   (Associated Press)
Police cars stand above the underground hideout where more than two dozen members of a doomsday cult are holed up awaiting what they say is coming end of the world near the village of Nikolskoye, in Penza region about 400 miles (640 kilometers) southeast of Moscow on Monday, Nov. 19,...
Police cars stand above the underground hideout where more than two dozen members of a doomsday cult are holed up awaiting what they say is coming end of the world near the village of Nikolskoye, in Penza...   (Associated Press)
Black spots of the vent holes of the underground hideout where more than two dozen members of a doomsday cult are believed to be holed up, and awaiting what they say is coming end of the world, are see near the village of Nikolskoye, in Penza region about 400 miles...
Black spots of the vent holes of the underground hideout where more than two dozen members of a doomsday cult are believed to be holed up, and awaiting what they say is coming end of the world, are see...   (Associated Press)
A priest of the Russian Orthodox Church tries to negotiate with members of a doomsday cult through a vent hole of their underground hideout near the village of Nikolskoye, in Penza region about 400 miles (640 kilometers) southeast of Moscow, in this image from the television broadcast Sunday Nov. 18,...
A priest of the Russian Orthodox Church tries to negotiate with members of a doomsday cult through a vent hole of their underground hideout near the village of Nikolskoye, in Penza region about 400 miles...   (Associated Press)
A fence roof which was used as a kitchen by the members of a doomsday cult is seen in the village of Nikolskoye, in Penza region about 400 miles (640 kilometers) southeast of Moscow on Sunday Nov. 18, 2007, the nearest settlement to the underground hideout where the cult  members...
A fence roof which was used as a kitchen by the members of a doomsday cult is seen in the village of Nikolskoye, in Penza region about 400 miles (640 kilometers) southeast of Moscow on Sunday Nov. 18,...   (Associated Press)
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Interview with doomsday cult leader   (RussiaToday (YouTube))

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