Anatoly Kashpirovsky, Soviet-Era TV Faith Healer, Dies at 87

Anatoly Kashpirovsky, a television personality known across the former Soviet Union for his televised psychic healing sessions, has died at the age of 87, according to a report from Meduza citing television host Andrei Malakhov.

Kashpirovsky rose to widespread fame in the late 1980s and early 1990s, during the final years of the Soviet Union, for broadcasts in which he claimed to heal viewers of various ailments through televised sessions involving hypnosis-like techniques. His programs drew enormous audiences at the time, becoming a notable cultural phenomenon of the late Soviet era, even as medical professionals and skeptics raised doubts about the legitimacy of his claimed abilities.

Beyond his television appearances, Kashpirovsky trained and worked as a psychotherapist, and his career later included a period as a member of the Russian State Duma, the lower house of parliament, during the 1990s. His public persona remained closely tied to his earlier television fame throughout his life, and he continued to make occasional media appearances in later years.

News of his death was shared by Malakhov, a prominent Russian television host, though further details on the cause of death or the circumstances surrounding it were not included in the initial report.

Kashpirovsky's televised sessions remain a widely referenced symbol of the unusual media landscape of the late Soviet period, when state television experimented with new forms of programming amid the broader social and political upheaval leading up to the Soviet collapse in 1991.

Additional details about funeral arrangements or statements from family members had not been released at the time of this report.