steel: It sure must be odd to see seven American men come over to Russia and claim to be gods spokesperson on Earth. I think that alone might just piss off the Russians officials.
Could you imagine seven Russians coming to the states claiming such total nonsense. Why can only Americans make such shit up.
It isn't just odd. It is ridiculous. To think that the 7 lucky dwarfs of the WT Kingdom, can have free and easy access to a country whose religious history is centuries long, is myopic and emerges from a pretty new and shiny capitalistic "democracy". Backed by the United Nations.
Christianity was established in 988 in Russia (Orthodox - because Vladimir fell in love with the beauty of the Greeks) and was eventually spread throughout rural areas by illiterate monks who had at best, memorized a fragment or two of text. Some of those strange little pockets of Christianity survived the Muslim rule in the 13th-15th century. And became the backdrop for apocalyptic cults in the Russian territories.
Strange little bit of trivia - on the eve of the Tsar's abdication in 1917, an apocalyptic cult committed suicide on the outskirts of Moscow. Just over 60 members committed suicide. They were convinced the world was ending.
And then the religious freeze. Throughout the Soviet era. Godless times.
The WTS is a recent emergence on a scene that has such a long and varied religious history. And a long memory. Culture imprints deep memories when it is a old and significant as it has been in Russia.