Name: Potapova Larisa Valentinovna
Date of Birth: March 21, 1964
Current status: convicted person
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation: 282.2 (2), 282.2 (1.1)
Current restrictions: recognizance agreement
Sentence: 4 years 11 months of suspended imprisonment with a probationary period of 3 years with restriction of liberty for a period of 1 year 11 months

Biography

Iturup is the largest island in the southern part of the Kuril Islands with a population of less than 7,000 people. Larisa Potapova, a civilian resident of the island, faced criminal prosecution for her faith in the fall of 2023.

Larisa was born in March 1964 in Potsdam (Germany). She has a younger brother. The father is no longer alive.

As a child, Larisa loved to skate. After school, she received the specialty of a seamstress, worked for some time in a garment factory. Later she mastered the profession of cooking, and worked in her specialty in a restaurant, kindergarten, as well as on a ship. Recently he has been working as a watchman, in his free time he likes to take care of home flowers.

At various times, Larisa lived in Ukraine, as well as Volgograd and Vladivostok. In 1996, she and her son moved to her parents in the Kuril Islands. Now the son already has his own family.

Larisa was interested in the Bible as a child, and at the first opportunity in 1996 she began to study it. The woman was struck by the authenticity of this book, especially the fulfilled prophecies. In 2012, Larisa embarked on the Christian path.

Larisa's elderly mother, son and daughter-in-law worry about her and consider her criminal prosecution unfair.

Case History

In November 2023, searches were conducted in the homes of two female Jehovah’s Witnesses in the town of Kurilsk and the village of Reidovo. One of the women has a minor daughter. A month earlier, a criminal case had been initiated against Olga Kalinnikova and Larisa Potapova. They were accused of spreading the teachings of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Sakhalin region. Both women were placed under travel restrictions. In May 2024, their names were added to the Rosfinmonitoring list. Around the same time, the case was submitted to the Kurilsk town court. After two judges recused themselves, the case was transferred to the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk city court for further proceedings.On March 24, 2025, the court sentenced Potapova and Kalinnikova to 2.5 years of suspended imprisonment. The appellate court sent the case back for retrial. The second trial concluded in October 2025, resulting in suspended sentences ranging from 4 years and 11 months to 5 years for both women.
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