Update on cave cult which awaits the end of the world
1. Wide of ravine
2. Wide of hill, police post in the distance, zoom in to location of dug-out
3. Various of the holes used for ventilation, pan from one hole to the other
4. Wide of police post
5. Mid of ventilation hole behind branches (to right of picture)
6. Wide pan of Nikolskoye Village
7. Wide of the sect's church
8. Close-up door to church, cross marked on door with chalk, door opens to show interior
9. Wide pan from one cross to another
10. Horse in harness
11. Barking dog
12. SOUNDBITE: (Russian) Nikolai Kuznetsov, cult leader's neighbour:
He is a very good chap, well bred, not spoiled as in other families. He did not indulge in wine, studied, that's how I knew him.
13. Wide back view of church
14. Close-up of tools
15. SOUNDBITE: (Russian) Nikolai Kuznetsov, cult leader's neighbour:
What? The end of the world? If we ourselves don't do it, don't blow it up?
(Question: Why did you not hide there?)
I have been asking myself why they are doing it and what they want.
(Question: And what do you think of it?)
What do I think? I think nothing good will come out of it.
16. Various exteriors of church
17. Wide of houses
STORYLINE:
Priests tried unsuccessfully to coax members of a doomsday cult from their underground hideout in snowy central Russia where they remained barricaded on Sunday.
Twenty-nine people, including four children, the youngest 18 months, retreated to the bunker near the village of Nikolskoye in the Penza region, about 640 kilometres (400 miles) southeast of Moscow, earlier this month and have threatened to blow themselves up if forced to leave.
However, their leader, self-declared prophet Pyotr Kuznetsov, was not among them on Sunday.
Kuznetsov was charged last week with setting up a religious organisation associated with violence and underwent psychiatric evaluation on Friday.
On Thursday, Russian Orthodox monks tried to make contact with the cult but members refused to speak with them.
Priests went again on Sunday, but the followers refused to listen to their arguments, according to a security official monitoring the crisis.
He refused to be named because he was not authorised to speak to reporters.
Yevgeny Guseynov, a spokesman for the regional government, said officials would try to find experienced negotiators.
The followers, reportedly mostly women, vowed to stay in the bunker until doomsday, claiming to have stockpiled 100 gallons of gasoline that they threatened to ignite if officers on guard near the ravine try to force them out.
They remained in written contact with Kuznetsov.
Kuznetsov, a 43-year-old engineer from a devout family, declared himself a prophet several years ago.
He left his family and the Russian Orthodox Church, and established the True Russian Orthodox Church.
He is a very good chap, well bred, not spoiled as in other families. He did not indulge in wine, studied, that's how I knew him, said Nikolai Kuznetsov, a neighbour of Pyotr Kuznetsov but no direct relation.
I think nothing good will come out of it, Nikolai added when asked his opinion on the cult's actions.
After leaving home Pyotr Kuznetsov began writing books, borrowing from a mixture of established beliefs, and visited monasteries in Russia and Belarus, recruiting followers, Guseynov said.
He reportedly told followers that in the afterlife, they would be judging whether others deserved heaven or hell.
Followers were not allowed to watch television, listen to the radio or handle money, reports say.
Anna Vabishchevich said her 41-year-old son, Alexander, his wife and their two teenage daughters were followers.
She said she was sending two relatives from Belarus to try to persuade him to at least send the girls home.
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