Short answers, pulled from the story.
Vladimir Megre published the first book of The Ringing Cedars of Russia series in 1997, marking the birth of this new religious movement. He claimed to meet a hermit named Anastasia during trade expeditions in Siberia, which formed the foundation for millions of readers worldwide.
Anastasians believe that God is Rod, representing a continuous flow of generation and nature itself expressed through natural cycles like birth, death, and rebirth. They view all living things as thoughts of God, making communication with nature equivalent to communicating with divinity.
The movement organizes around kinship homesteads consisting of parcels approximately one hectare owned by families who build houses using natural materials. Decisions emerge from veches, ancient Slavic popular assemblies held weekly in community buildings without centralized hierarchies or authoritarian leaders.
Vladimir Putin enacted the Far Eastern Hectare law on the 1st of May 2016 allowing free land distribution to support settlements. This legal framework enabled many groups to establish kinship homesteads across regions including Moscow Oblast, Krasnodar Krai, and Novosibirsk Oblast.
German constitutional protection authorities and State Security Services in Austria observe concerns because Vladimir Megre's seventh book reproduces antisemitic narratives blaming Jews for persecution through greed and manipulation. These conspiracy theories link the movement closely to right-wing extremists in Switzerland Germany and Austria.