CIA Reading Room cia-rdp90-00806r000100460001-9: SOVIETS DISBAND KRISHNA GROUP, MAGAZINE REPORTS

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Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/05: CIA-RDP90-0 LR'I= ON ZAGS 0 rt' Pi ADMPE1'~. 11 -UIFZR June 198?. Soviets disbars Krishna group, magazine repo By Alison Smale wsa.on.d r.e. - - =? 0806R000100460001-9 Nede)ya_began ttc 2.O-word stor" with a description of Campaniola sit- ting in a Moscow apartment dressed in white robes and receiving the adoration of his followers. It went on to contend that the section was doing "pathological dam- age" to the mental health of three other group members. 'identif)ed only,as Slave.S.. Yura K. and Lena P. Nede)ya described the case of Lena P. at length, s0ng she was --a: top student at Moscow's -prestigious Sports Institute until -ber involve- .meat with Rare Krishna made -her `uhbalaaced." ?'~SncL stories. +vhicD often Link-tbe She began showing hatred for her MOSCOW -Authorities have bro- Rate. .p Pt ess.r s..ancand arC cleawMMOe ken up a Hare rly :.are P )`Crisitassect here-and intended to warn cltiuasaway from have -punished .two of .its 4eaders.-e .religious groups, peace movements week)y magazine reported yesterday. thatAack official approval. and other It warned other citizens of the offi- Doneonformist phenomena. cial)v atheist Soviet Dnion mot to ' The tone of the article asso-?refiect. dabble in such -ideological -diver- ed two principles said to be empha. sions. sized by Communist Parry -leader The report in Nede)ya magazine Yuri V_ Andropov - the Deed for was the first word that.a Hare Krish- rigid adherence to orthodox commu. rte group had been set up in the ism and exposure of weaknesses in capital and. also marked a rare offi? 'Soviet life. vial acknowledgement that some So. `'lets have been attracted to Oriental. stile mysticism instead of communism. According to Nede)ya, the sect here was started under the guidance of an American. RoberCampaniola. vhorn the magazine described as a "former CIA mar" specializing it ideological propaganda After the group-was uncovered. The magazine said. members Vladimir KritsKV, 3_, and Sergei Kurkin. Z. were tried and convicted of props_ ganng "strongly anti-communist teachings." Nedelya -said they were sentenced but did not say what the punishment was. The article ended with a..call for an "uncompromising .struggle" against "ideological diversions" like the Hin- du-derived ideology espoused by the Hare Krishna sect. Formally called the international Sociern? for Krishna Consciousness inc., and famous for the saffron. robed faithful who beg at airports and other public places. Hare Krish. na says it .has hundreds of thousands of members in 35 countries. It was founded In New York in 1965 -and takes its name from the Hindu .deirp Krishna. said to have been the .eighth incarnation of 1be.god Vtsh? ,nu. - , parents.". the 'magazine -said adding that she refused mmeet,*fish. eggsand otberfoods."torturing herself with a . ?.dai)y fast.and...