When the 22-year-old woman gave birth to her child, the companions stated that the baby's surname was Rudnev, according to CNN. This set off alarm bells: the name brought to mind the notorious Konstantin Rudnev, who, according to multiple reports, runs what Russian authorities have described as a sect in Argentina.
A week later, Rudnev was arrested at the airport in Bariloche. Shortly thereafter, another dozen Russian citizens believed to have ties to the Ashram Shambala sect were arrested, including the two women who had accompanied the expectant mother to the hospital. Several of them showed signs of malnutrition, according to investigators according to CNN.
In total, 21 Russians are now being investigated by Argentine authorities. They are suspected of involvement in a "criminal organization that, for the purpose of sex trafficking and slavery, recruited a 22-year-old woman from Russia".
During a house search of the group's residence in Bariloche, large quantities of cocaine were found. On several of the arrested individuals' phones, police found evidence that they had been forced to fast as a form of punishment.
Rudnev founded Ashram Shambala in 1989, according to Russian media. He claims to be an "alien from Sirius" sent to Earth as a messiah. In 2013, he was sentenced to 11 years in prison in Siberia for rape, violent sexual acts, drug trafficking, and for founding a religious group that violates civil rights, according to the Russian state-controlled Ria.
