Russia’s Supreme Court bans Batal-Khadzhi Belkhoroyev followers’ community

Russia’s Supreme Court on October 14 designated the Community of Followers of Batal-Khadzhi Belkhoroyev as a terrorist organisation and banned its activities in Russia. The ruling takes immediate effect.

The Prosecutor General’s Office brought the application. Most of the hearing took place behind closed doors, according to RIA Novosti’s correspondent in court. The court’s press service also confirmed the decision to Interfax.

The new ruling concerns the community itself. In 2022, the Southern District Military Court had already designated the armed wing of the group’s followers as terrorist.

Investigators have linked members of the group to attacks against Ibrahim Eldzharkiyev, who headed the Interior Ministry’s anti-extremism centre in Ingushetia. He and his brother were killed in Moscow in November 2019, according to the Investigative Committee.

In late 2025, the Federal Security Service reported disrupting a group of Belkhoroyev’s followers in Moscow, Chechnya and Ingushetia. The operation formed part of the investigation into the attack against Eldzharkiyev. Batal-Khadzhi Belkhoroyev was an Ingush Sufi sheikh who founded a religious brotherhood.