Russian police, along with anti-extremism police in occupied Ukraine, continue to raid Christian worship meetings, most of them of the Council of Churches Baptists, as well as to fine pastors for “unlawful missionary activity”, reports Norwegian human rights group Forum 18.

The Council of Churches Baptist congregations “choose not to seek official registration in any country where they operate. They also refuse to notify the authorities of the start of their activity”, explains Forum 18.

“Russian officials claim that their exercise of freedom of religion or belief, including meeting for worship or sharing their faith , is therefore illegal”, it adds.

Churches raided

On 8 June, police raided the Council of Churches Baptist congregation in Krasnodon, in the Russian-occupied Luhansk region, while they were celebrating Pentecost.

They raided another Baptist church in Sverdlovsk, also in the Luhansk region, on 10 August during the Sunday morning worship service, and filmed those present.

According to Forum 18, “when the church finished its worship service, police searched the home where the church meets”. They told church members that they “had a search warrant approved by a court as officials suspected the church had weapons”. Officers also photographed religious literature they found in the church.

Major Gennady Turko of the Anti-Extremism Centre interrogated the church's pastor, Pyotr Tatarenko, and the representative of the owner of the house.

“The main focus of the conversation was on issues related to the submission of notifications and registration of the church”, said the church members on Telegram after the raid.

[photo_footer]Police question Baptist church members in Krasnodon. / Photo: Baptist Council of Churches, via Forum 18.[/photo_footer] 

Fines for “unlawful missionary activity”

In addition to the raids on churches, the Russian-controlled Krasnodon Town Court found the pastor of the church targeted in Pentecost, Vladimir Rytikov, guilty of “unlawful missionary activity” for leading his unregistered church.

On 14 July, he was fined 45,000 Russian roubles, which is more than a month's average local wages. The sentence ignored that the pastor is a pensioner who has to care for a 36-year-old son that cannot live independently, due to a head injury.

Pastor Rytikov appealed against the sentence to the Luhansk Supreme Court, but the court upheld the fine. Over 50 church members went to Luhansk Supreme Court to support him at the appeal hearing.

“The accusations were mainly for refusing to register. I explained that for a number of reasons, we do not register. One of the reasons is the duty of the pastor to report to the authorities about the life of church members and about the service in the church, and that would be betrayal”, stressed Rytikov after the appeal.

Oksana Volyanskaya was also accused of “unlawful missionary activity”, on 30 June by Starobesheve district court in Russian-occupied Donetsk region.

She was fined 10,000 Russian Roubles for “the implementation of activities by a religious organisation without indicating its official full name, including the issuing or distribution of literature and printed, audio, and video material”.

The judge also ordered the destruction of her religious books. Volyanskaya did not appeal and the decision came into force on 12 August.

In the same region, two Protestant churches with Russian registration were punished in June for failing to use their full, official name, either on their building or on their literature.

A Donetsk court had earlier punished a local Jewish and a local Roman Catholic community on the same charges.

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