Baptist pastor charged with spreading ‘disinformation’ about Russian army

Russian Baptist pastor Yury Spiko, the former vice president of the Baptist World Alliance, has been charged with spreading “disinformation” about the Russian military, the Moscow branch of the Russian Investigative Committee reported on Tuesday.

Investigators allege that Sipko published a video clip in 2022 that contained “deliberately false information” about the Russian military’s actions against civilians in Ukraine.

According to the Investigative Committee, law enforcement searched the homes of Sipko and his associates on August 8. The Telegram channel 112 reported that according to preliminary reports, Sipko “managed to flee the country,” though this has not officially been confirmed.