Biography
Ivan Starikov was born in January 1975 in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. He lived in Krasnoyarsk and Uyar. His parents worked in a factory; now they are retired. As a child, Ivan studied piano at a music school and was good at singing.
Ivan qualified as an electrician and gas welder and worked in this field at various enterprises and later as a mechanic. Before his arrest, he was self-employed and repaired shoes. He did not complete military service due to a spinal injury.
In the early 1990s, Ivan was baptized as one of Jehovah's Witnesses. In 2010, he married Yelena. Ivan has an adult daughter; his son died at the age of 9 from leukemia. The couple have no children together.
Case History
In October 2025, employees of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation initiated a criminal case against residents of the city of Uyar, Viktor Kononov and Aflatun Safarov. Searches of their homes were conducted, after which the court remanded the elderly men in custody. In February 2026, Sergey Soroka, Aleksandr and Zakhar Vakarev, and Ivan Starikov were detained; Ivan Starikov was placed in a pretrial detention center. The investigation interpreted the holding of peaceful meetings for worship as organizing the activity of an extremist organization and participating in it. In the spring of 2026, the court decided to transfer Ivan Starikov and Aflatun Safarov to house arrest.