[1] There was a belief that some people had the ability to use the mystic powers of nature to perform magic, which could be used for both good and evil purposes, but there was little connection made between sorcery and the Devil.
The Russian Orthodox church viewed sorcery as a form of Paganism and viewed the eradication of it as a form of Christianization against traces of pre-Christian religion, and not as persecutions of people who had made a pact with Satan, and there was no or weak belief in witches who made a pact with the Devil and attended a Witches' Sabbath, only in people - men and women - who caused harm by use of Pagan magic, who must be eradicated for the sake of their fellow citizens.
During the Lukh trial, one local governor reported the accusation of a man with a cross under his heel who was said to have used satanic rituals to cast spells.
[1] Ivan the Terrible did not introduce the death penalty for sorcery, but he banned the use of magic and authorized secular courts to prosecute it as a crime.
Before that, anti-witch laws had the primary function of protecting the Tsar and the main categories of accused were clergymen - usually minor rural clergy or people associated with them - and members of the court or tsarist administration.
Magic was practiced by both genders at all levels of society from the earliest historical times, and the statistical advantage of convicted men was due to conflicts in male-dominated areas.