Biography
Yevgeniya Vasilyeva was born in March 1976 in Moscow in a family of journalists. She has a younger sister. As a child, Yevgeniya was interested in judo and aikido, dance, and music.
In the early 1990s, Yevgeniya’s father was sent to Vilyuchinsk, a closed military town on the shore of the Pacific Ocean, to organize the publication of a local newspaper. The family settled in this town.
Yevgeniya’s spiritual search began in her teenage years, when she started going to church on her own. In Vilyuchinsk, Yevgeniya’s mother was offered a Bible study with Jehovah’s Witnesses. “I immediately asked to go with my mother,” she recalls. “I wanted to know what was written in this ancient book from God.” At that time, the people she mixed with left much to be desired. “I was surrounded by thieves, alcoholics, drug addicts, criminals,” Yevgeniya recalls. “If not for Bible truths, my life would have followed the same pattern.”
Soon Yevgeniya met her future husband, Vitaliy. In 1993, they married, and the following year they were baptized as Jehovah’s Witnesses. “Thanks to the Bible, we have a good family,” the believer said. “My husband and I have been together for more than 30 years; we raised a fine daughter.”
Yevgeniya graduated from Kamchatka State University with a degree in Information Systems in Economics, and then trained as a secretary and office administrator. She worked at the tax inspectorate and the Vilyuchinsk television and radio company. Later, Yevgeniya trained as a hairdresser and is now self-employed in this field. Over the years, Vitaliy acquired various trades, including carpenter, cabinetmaker and welder. He is now retired due to disability. The couple enjoy traveling to beautiful places in Kamchatka, admiring the ocean and the hills. Their adult daughter, Raisa, is already married and also works as a hairdresser.
Yevgeniya and Vitaliy’s home was searched in March 2026. “The shouting and foul language of the officers are still ringing in my ears to this day,” Yevgeniya said several months after the event. She added: “It is a paradox: for exercising my right to practice my religion, I experienced discrimination, religious hatred, and humiliation at the hands of law enforcement officers — which is a monstrous mockery of the right they were supposed to protect.”
The stress from the criminal prosecution has aggravated Yevgeniya’s chronic illnesses and disturbed her sleep. As her bank accounts have been blocked and a criminal case was initiated, she has faced difficulties at work. Yevgeniya’s parents, who do not share her religious beliefs, consider the charges baseless and contrived.