By Victoria Arnold — A Moscow court jailed Buddhist leader Ilya Vasilyev on 25 June for eight years for allegedly disseminating "knowingly false information" about Russia's Armed Forces, the longest known prison term for opposing Russia's war against Ukraine on religious grounds. "We called for the voice of reason, but it seems the judge heard only the voice of the prosecutor's office," his lawyer Gevorg Aleksanyan said. A court spokesperson refused comment on the verdict or why the Judge refuses a prison visit from a Buddhist priest.

We are pleased to announce the release of a compelling new work by Prof. David W. Kim, respected scholar and member of the Scientific Committee of the European Federation for Freedom of Belief (FOB). In Silk Road Footprints: Transnational Transmission of Sacred Thoughts and Historical Legacy, Prof. Kim re-examines the Silk Road not merely as a highway of goods and empires, but as a fertile conduit of sacred ideas, religious traditions, and evolving identities.

From June 26 to 28, 2025, scholars from across Europe and beyond gathered at Vilnius University’s Old Town Campus for the 10^th Biennial Conference of the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism (ESSWE). Marking the society’s 20^th anniversary, this milestone event explored the theme “Esotericism and Rationality”, challenging long-held assumptions about the boundaries between mystical thought and intellectual rigor.


FOB had already dealt with Guru Jára's affair with a series of four articles written four-handedly by Alessandro Amicarelli, FOB president, and Massimo Introvigne, editor of Bitter Winter. Pavel Hlavinka, associate professor at Palacký University, also wrote about Guru Jára declaring himself to be a disciple of his. This did not pass unnoticed by a zealous intolerant journalist (...)