In late October and early November 1937, several priests were arrested in the Kovrov district: Nikolai Alexeyevich Smirnov, Nikolai Ivanovich Dobrovyotov, Valentin Konstantinovich Khvalensky, and Afanasy Sergeevich Lektorsky. The investigation claimed that they were members of a counter-revolutionary group of clergymen in the rural areas of the Kovrov district and had been conducting counter-revolutionary activities among the residents of Krutovsky, Dmitrievsky, and Belkovsky for several years, aimed at undermining Soviet power. They were accused of agitating among collective farmers against the collective farms, calling for them not to work on religious holidays and to leave the collective farms, which hindered their operations. They were also accused of extorting funds from the population to strengthen the Church and the clergy. For more organized activities, they allegedly held illegal meetings under the guise of visiting each other, where they discussed joint counter-revolutionary work and slandered the economic situation of the Soviet Union. Smirnov was claimed to be the leader of this group. All four defendants were executed.