Overview
- An investigative court in Almaty remanded Vorontsov for two months on suspicions of maintaining a narcotics den and possessing drugs without intent to sell.
- The court denied a request for house arrest, and his defense says it will appeal the ruling.
- Police detained him on February 13 and a same-day administrative case for drug use led to a 10‑day jail term, after which he was taken for questioning in the criminal probe.
- Vorontsov had publicly condemned the invasion of Ukraine and advocated creating a Kazakh autocephalous church, and the Russian Orthodox Church stripped him of clerical status in 2023.
- He previously faced a 2023 incitement investigation that he said was closed in May 2025, he recently sued over a refusal to register a religious association, and the local ROC district denies any role in the case.