Russia--Christian Persecution in Russia

Europe: Russia Country Report Last Updated: May 2003 Code: A-3 (Click here for a code description.)
	(Click here for a list of ICC articles on Russia.) List of Articles Last Updated: April 30, 2002

Religious Atmosphere: This country has a large (55%) Orthodox population with small (<1%) populations of Protestant and Catholics. There is also a sizeable population of non-religious individuals (32.7%) and Muslims (8.7%). The Orthodox Church in conjunction with the Russian government seems to be the primary source of persecution here as new laws and underhanded political/legal tactics have been employed to purge Russia of "unwanted" foreign religious groups.

• The Orthodox Church has been a strong supporter of any legislation that would slow the growth of new religious groups. Orthodox clergy are also known to express their disdain for new religious groups through personal contacts.
              
• There are also occasional reports of actions by nationalistic Russian groups and individuals against foreign religious groups.

• The most recent constitution provides for the freedom of religion and the separation of church and state.
             
• The 1997 Law on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations imposes registration requirements on religious groups. The law requires that all religious groups re-register with local authorities by 1999 or lose their legal status. The original law states that groups need to have been in existence in Russia for 15 years to obtain full legal status. This law does not effect Orthodox, Jewish, Islamic, or Buddhist believers as it does the new Protestant and Pentecostal groups that have come into Russia in the past eight years. President Yeltsin encouraged local authorities to ignore this requirement. Local authorities still have considerable power to deny registration under the law. An organization that is not registered or does not have legal status cannot own property or have a bank account.
          
• As of 1997, about 25% of Russia's 89 regional governments had passed laws which restricted the activities of religious groups
        
• Religious workers can only obtain three-month visas and renewals of the visas must take place at a Russian Embassy or consulate abroad. Local authorities have, at times, refused to register the passport of missionaries, not allowing the missionaries to operate in the area under their jurisdiction.

Recent Actions:
    

• March 21, 2003 - The Faith in Action Bible College in Primorsky Krai was forced to close down by order of the public prosecutor. A regional court supported the prosecutor by ruling that the Bible college was conducting "educational activity" without a license. Bible college representatives argued that the school is not an educational institution because it does not give certifications of education. Students of the school have been allowed to attend seminars at the adjacent Centre of the Living God Church but cannot reside on school property. Supporters of the school say the authorities have been looking for an excuse to close it down. (F-18 News)
      
• March 2003 - An unregistered Baptist congregation in Moscow is no longer allowed to rent space at a public library. According to a city official, only legal entities can rent public facilities for religious services. The church is not considered a legal entity because it refuses to register with the government. (F-18 News)
    
• Ongoing - More and more Russian priests are being denied visas. It seems there is a 'black list' of Catholic priests the government is trying to drive out of Russia. Protestants in ministry are also being denied visa renewals as well. (Keston)
  
• Ongoing - Recent actions against Catholics in Russia seem to be based on two factors. First, many Orthodox leaders are opposed to the Vatican’s upgrading of “apostolic administrations” to official dioceses, which occurred in February 2002. Second, some Russians are offended by the reference to a portion of Bishop Jerzy Mazur’s diocese as the Karafuto Prefecture (the Japanese name for the disputed territory) instead of the accepted Russian name, southern Sakhalin. (Keston)
      
• September 10, 2002 - A Swedish pastor with a valid multiple-entry visa was expelled from the country and the visa was cancelled. Leo Martensson had been working with the Evangelical Christian Missionary Union in Krasnodar krai for the past nine years. The denomination is legally registered with the government and as such is allowed to invite foreign clergy. Officials in the local visa and registration office (OVIR) claimed Martensson had not submitted residency paperwork on time after returning from a trip abroad. Church members believe the local officials may have been bribed by Islamic groups that were opposed to Martensson's work in the area. (Keston)
      
• September 10, 2002 - Another Polish Catholic priest, Edward Mackiewicz, was denied entry into Russia despite holding a valid visa. He was told that his parish had been "abolished." Mackiewicz worked in the city of Rostov-on-Don. (Keston)
      
• September 9, 2002 - Polish Catholic priest Jaroslav Wisniewski was refused entry to Russia at the Khabarovsk airport and was deported to Japan. Fr. Wisniewski, a priest in southern Sakhalin, was informed that his name was "on a list of people who are denied entry into Russia." Fr. Wisniewski had criticized the handling of Bishop Jerzy Mazur's forced deportation (see April 19, 2002 below) as well as the controversy surrounding the appropriate name of the prefecture (see above). (Keston)
    
• August 2002 - A Protestant missionary in Sakhalin complained that the Orthodox Bishop of that area had made provocative statements against Protestants in a local newspaper. His Holiness Danielle reportedly told the Orthodox community: "All of us must cleanse Sakhalin of every possible sect." Orthodox church members were encouraged to stand against Protestants and other groups "alien" to the Russian people. (ANS)
     
• August 2, 2002 - Father Stanislav Krajnak, a Slovak priest serving in Yaroslav, has been refused a visa to remain in the country. Fr. Krajnak's current visa expires at the end of August and without a renewal, he will be forced to leave the country. It is believed he is on the growing "black list" of priests being driven from the country. (Keston)
       
• June 2002 - US missionaries Jeffrey, Susan, and Jordan Wollman and Ronald and Virginia Cook were informed that their visa applications for ongoing work in Kostroma had been overridden by the FSB (formerly KGB). This decision was based on Article 27 Part 1 of the 1996 law "On the Entrance To and Exit From the Territory of the Russian Federation." The law states that "foreign citizens may not be granted entry to Russia if they are deemed to pose a threat to state security." The Wollmans have asked for documentation that proves they are a threat. (Keston)
       
• June 7, 2002 - Pastor Aleksei Ledyaev's multiple-entry visa was cancelled on the spot as he tried to enter Russia through Kaliningrad. Ledyaev had been previously denied entry in March (see March 14, 2002 below). Ledyaev, an ethnic Russian with residency in Latvia, is the head of the charismatic New Generation Church, a network of 150 churches around the world. No official reason has been given for the cancellation of his visa. (Keston)
     
• April 2002 -Several churches were evicted from a state building they had been renting in Kazan, Tartarstan. The Cornerstone Church, the Free Bible Church, and an unregistered Pentecostal church were all evicted from a House of Culture building after a complaint about the latter church from a parishoner's mother. The woman was disturbed by the church's teaching on contraception and demanded that the Council of Religious Affairs do something about it. Responsibility was eventually passed on to the Kazan municipal authorities. The exact justification for the closures can only be surmised. (Keston)
    
• April 2002 – In another recent act of discrimination against Catholics, official in Pskov ordered that the construction of a Catholic church be halted after the local Orthodox Bishop complained. It is believed that the Catholic parish will eventually be able to build, but may have to modify the structure of the building. (Keston)
       
• April 21, 2002 – Orthodox believers picketed outside of the Immaculate Heart Cathedral during Mass in Irkutsk while Catholics inside prayed for their Bishop, who had been barred from the country (see April 19, 2002 below). Protestors shouted “Down with Expansion of Catholicism in Russia.” The underlying motive of discrimination against Catholics seems to be a fear of “sheep stealing” by the Orthodox Church. (Keston)
      
• April 19, 2002 – Catholic Bishop Jerzy Mazur was refused entry into Russia and his valid multiple entry visa was ripped from his passport at the Sheremetyevo-2 airport. The bishop was on his way to Irkutsk in eastern Siberia, where he oversees a newly formed diocese. Mazur was then deported to Warsaw, Poland. (Keston, AP)
       
• April 8, 2002 - Father Stefano Caprio, an Italian Roman Catholic priest, has been banned from traveling to Russia. Father Caprio oversees two parishes - Vladimir and Ivanovo, near Moscow. He believes he has been banned from traveling to Russia because of a newspapers article several years ago alleging he was the head of a Vatican spy ring. (Keston)

• March 14, 2002 - Lativan Pentecostal pastor, Aleksei Ledyayev, was stopped at the Sheremaetyevo-2 airport in Moscow and refused entry to the country. He was held for 10 hours and then flown to Lithuania. (Keston)
     
• February 7, 2002 - Russia's Constitutional Court overruled earlier decisions on the liquidation of the Moscow branch of the Salvation Army, saying that the previous court decisions were based on a misinterpretation of the law. (CSCE)
     
• December 6, 2001 – The Salvation Army of Moscow lost its appeal (see September 11, 2001 below) before the Moscow Municipal Court. Despite the ruling that the group should cease all activities, they intend to continue to feed the homeless in Moscow.
       
• November 2001 – The Emmanuel Church, headed by Bishop Vladimir Murza, was informed at the end of the month that they would not be permitted to build on land that had been allocated to them five years ago. Though all of the legal paperwork went through without a problem, the local community has rejected the church’s plan to build, claiming they are a “neo-Pentecostal movement, brought from the US.” Suspicion of the church’s activities may have been raised by a teacher at the Orthodox Theological Institute of St. Tikhon, claiming the church used hypnosis and occult practices. The church will lose a large sum of money if it cannot continue plans to build on the designated land.
      
• October 12, 2001 – The ‘On Missionary Activity on the Territory of Belgorod Region” was proclaimed unconstitutional by lawyer Anatoli Pchelintsev and submitted to the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation in a campaign led by Pastor Vladimir Rybant and local Protestant churches to repeal certain provisions.  The law restricts missionary work to certified religious organizations, requires affiliation, invitation, itinerary, and proof documents of registration, restricts foreign mission work, and fines violators between 50 to 100 times the minimum monthly wage and the termination of their missionary activity. (Keston)
         
• September 11, 2001 – Judge Svetlana Grigoreva, of Tagansky District Peoples Court declared the liquidation of the Salvation Army in Moscow.  The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) claimed the Army was unregistered for three years, despite hundreds of pages contesting the MOJ’s declaration.  In a few minutes, Judge Svetlana Grigoreva declared liquidation without looking at the documents.  The Army intends on appealing.  (IRPP)
            
• July 21, 2001 – Craig Rucin, an American Protestant, was deported from Russia in the capital of the Republic of Udmurtia, Izhevsk, for giving free training to local Protestant pastors in the evenings and on weekends.  According to the local OVIR office (government office dealing with foreign registration), Rucin constituted ‘a danger to the Russian Federation,’ and was ‘a matter of national security.’   Rucin had been working for the cultural exchange company called ‘Slovo’ (‘Word’), which is not registered as a religious organization.
         
• April 4, 2001 – The Victory of Faith Full Gospel Church in Amursk as well as its 11 daughter churches were liquidated by the justice department.
         
• April 2001 – The Church of God of Christians of the Evangelical Faith, located in Moscow, was evicted from the theater they had been using to hold worship services since 1999. The theater’s owner had been told by the culture committee that he must cancel the lease because the church was considered a "sect." This is despite the fact that the church’s drug rehab center has been publicly praised by President Putin.
          
• March 2001 – The Russian Duma approved a resolution to impede the growth of the Catholic Church in Russia. This is another example of the power wielded by the Orthodox Church over Russian politics. There are approximately 500,000 Catholics in Russia and 80 million practitioners of the Orthodox faith.
           
• December 31, 2000 – Today marks the official deadline for the re-registration of all religious organizations. Those not in accordance with the Law on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations will lose their legal status.
           
• November 28, 2000 – The Moscow branch of the Salvation Army lost a court battle to overturn the rejection of its re-registration application. Moscow officials claimed the group’s charter was unacceptable despite the fact that the Salvation Army was able to reregister successfully in five other Russian cities. Since the Moscow group’s legal status expires at the end of the year, they will no longer be able to rent office space. In addition, their meals on wheels program has already been cancelled. Meanwhile, the Department that handles re-registration of religious groups in the Ministry of Justice continues to examine the case.
             
• June 2000 – Local Baptists were threatened by police for distributing religious material outside of their place of worship because it is not a registered religious organization. Authorities, prompted by complaints from local Orthodox parishioners, threatened to arrest the Baptists if they did not cease their activities.
             
• June 2000 – Authorities sought to dissolve the Kostroma Christian Center for allegedly using hypnosis during their worship service, violating the religion law.
          
• There have been reports of Orthodox Church members intruding on other church services and disrupting them. These disruption usually including being loud and waving around religious icons.
      
          

Prisoners: There is no evidence that prisoners are being held for their Christian beliefs at this time.

• Pray for all Christians of Russia that they may continue to be protected from harm and that the Christian message may be heard and received by all.
             
• Write a respectful letter to one or more of the government officials listed below. Express your continuing concern for the safety and well being of the non-Orthodox Christian communities in Russia. Request information about what steps the government is taking to ensure their protection and freedom to practice their faith as laid out in the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights documents. Note that letters addressed to officials in Russia should be translated into Russian using Cyrillic characters with the address written the same in order for it to be properly delivered.
         
• Contact the elected national officials (Senators, Congressman etc.) for your area as well as the U.S. State Department and express concern for the well being of the Christians in Russia asking them to make an inquiry into their status.
            
• Please keep us informed of any replies or results you may receive! Contact ICC by email at ICC@persecution.org.

Official Contacts: According to the source of the Russia based addresses listed below, mail will not reach its destination unless the address is written in Cyrillic characters. Fax and email are advised.

*We make every attempt to keep up with and reflect changes in the national government of Russia and the current human rights situation. We appreciate your feedback if you find any discrepancies in this information. You can contact us by e-mail at: icc@persecution.org. Thanks.

POSTED:  May 8, 2003

ICC Articles on Russia:

• April 30, 2002 - Prayer - Pray for needs in Burma, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia, and Vietnam.
• White Paper - Russia:  A Ghost Of The Past Has Returned