15.06.2025 – Prosecutions for unlawful “missionary activity” – 2024 to 2025
Forum 18 – At least 90 people in 2024 and 34 in January-April 2025 were prosecuted for unlawful “missionary activity”. Fines are typically several weeks’ average wages, but foreigners can be deported. A Kurganinsk Magistrate’s Court fined six Baptists – including Pastor Aleksandr Chmykh – for leading worship meetings. A Stavropol Muslim teacher was fined for leading prayers and Koranic studies for girls. Police and prosecutors did not respond on why they had brought charges to punish individuals who had conducted worship services in places of worship, prayer rooms, or residential premises.
Individuals and religious organisations continue to be brought to court across Russia on administrative charges of unlawful “missionary activity”. These charges punish a wide range of activities, including ordinary worship meetings for fellow believers. Forum 18 found 124 such prosecutions between the beginning of January 2024 and the end of April 2025. The true number is believed to be higher.
13.06.2025 – In Kuban, a 72-year-old Jehovah’s Witness was sentenced to two years of probation
OVD – On June 11, the Vyselkovsky District Court of the Krasnodar Territory sentenced 72-year-old Jehovah’s Witness Lyudmila Zinina to two years of probation with restriction of liberty for six months in the case of participation in an extremist organization (Part 2 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code), reports the portal “Jehovah’s Witnesses. Legal situation in Russia”.
Before the sentencing, she was under a subscription not to travel. The hearings were held in a neighboring village – Zinina’s friends helped her get there. According to her, without their help, it would be impossible to visit the courts due to health problems: heart and vascular diseases, osteoporosis, diabetes. She was also diagnosed with cancer recently, but treatment has not yet been prescribed.
12.06.2025 – In village of Vyselki, court sentences pensioner Luydmila Zinina, 74, to suspended term for her faith in God
JW – On June 11, 2025, the judge of the Vyselkovsky District Court of the Krasnodar Territory, Lidiya Koba, made a decision in the case of Lyudmila Zinina: two years suspended and six months of restriction of freedom for reading the Bible with friends.
Lyudmila worked as a nurse in an operating room for many years. She has been married since 1973 – for more than 50 years. They raised three children. In 2012, a misfortune happened in the family – the son died. “It was very difficult to survive his death,” Zinina recalls. “Health problems have been added: heart and vascular diseases, osteoporosis, diabetes.” In addition, the believer’s daughter, Irina, also ended up being prosecuted.
11.06.2025 – In Cheboksary, a protocol on “illegal missionary word” was drawn up for a Muslim student
Sova – On June 9, 2025, it became known that a case of “illegal missionary” was opened in Cheboksary against a 22-year-old student, a native of Central Asia.
During the warning and preventive measures to prevent the spread of extremist currents in the region, officers of the Federal Security Service and the Prosecutor’s Office of the Moscow district of Cheboksary discovered an illegal prayer room in one of the premises of an educational institution, in which an unregistered religious group united by the ideas of radical Islam operated.
Protocols have been drawn up for the student-organizer under Art. 5.26 (violation of the legislation on freedom of conscience, freedom of religion and religious associations) and 19.7 of the Administrative Code (failure to provide data (information)).
11.06.2025 – The court sentenced a Jehovah’s Witness from the Sakhalin region to a fine of 600 thousand rubles
OVD – Today, the Kalinin District Court of St. Petersburg sentenced Igor Muravyov, a resident of the Sakhalin region, in the case of involvement in the activities of an extremist organization and participation in it (ch. 1.1 and 2 Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code). This is reported by the joint press service of the courts of St. Petersburg.
The court found the believer guilty of involvement in the activities of the organization “Adminment Center of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia”. The court said that the man “had a real opportunity to stop participating” in the organization after it was recognized as “extremist”.
10.06.2025 – Kirill wishes to improve relations with the Catholic Church
RISU – “In recent years, the Russian Orthodox Church has established positive relations with the Roman Catholic Church, including the popes who have led it. I support the development of these relations, as they can play a crucial role in promoting reconciliation in areas affected by war and in fostering trust between countries and peoples. The very doctrine of Christianity urges individuals towards peace and love. Therefore, what other message could the leaders of Christian Churches convey, even in political discussions? It is essential for them to encourage relationships that align with the values of the Gospel,” Patriarch Kirill stated during a press conference.
10.06.2025 – A Jehovah’s Witness from Sakhalin was taken to a colony
OVD – Jehovah’s Witness Daler Tokhtayev was taken to IK-1 in the Sakhalin region, the portal “Jehovah’s Witnesses. Legal situation in Russia”.
On February 28, the Poronai City Court of the Sakhalin region sentenced him to six years in prison in the case of involvement in the activities of an extremist organization (p. 1.1 Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code) and participation in such activities (Part 2 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code). The prosecution requested eight years of colony for the believer. On May 26, the Sakhalin Regional Court approved the sentence.
06.06.2025 – Religious freedom in Russia continues to decline, say experts
OSV – As Pope Leo XIV highlights the need for interreligious dialogue and diplomacy, religious liberty in Russia continues to decline, with the U.S. International Religious Freedom Commission citing that nation’s intensified use of blasphemy laws to silence freedom of expression.
At the same time, a Russian-born scholar told OSV News that even theological disagreement within the Russian Orthodox Church is silenced.
In May, Pope Leo stressed to Vatican-accredited diplomats that interreligious dialogue can foster peace, with such exchange first requiring “full respect for religious freedom in every country, since religious experience is an essential dimension of the human person.”
05.06.2025 – The Catholic parish in Vladimir was forced to remove the icon memorial plaque of repressed clergymen
Sova – On May 29, 2025, it became known that the Catholic parish of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Holy Rosary was forced to remove the icon of Clement Sheptytsky and the memorial plaque of Mechislovas Rainis. This was preceded by a number of publications accusing the parish of perpetuating the memory of the “accomplices of the Nazis”, and a prosecutor’s inspection.
Sheptytsky is a Greek Catholic exarch of the Apostolic Exarchate of Russia, counted among the blessed of the Catholic Church, Rainis is the bishop of the Roman Catholic Church, apostolic administrator of Mogilev and Minsk. Both were repressed and died while serving a prison sentence in Vladimir.
After defamatory publications and the intervention of the prosecutor’s office, the temple staff replaced the icon and memorial plaque with images of other repressed clergymen.
04.06.2025 – In Kirov, followers of the Ukrainian Church “renaissance” were sentenced to compulsory work
OVD – On May 28, the Leninsky District Court of Kirov sentenced four followers of the “undesirable” Ukrainian church “Renaissance” to compulsory work and another one to a suspended sentence. This was reported to OVD-Info in the press service of the court.
Thus, Natalia Sorokina was found guilty under the articles on the organization of the activities of an “undesirable organization” (part 3 of Art. 284.1 of the Criminal Code) and its financing (Part 2 of Art. 284.1 OF THE CRIMINAL CODE). She was sentenced to one year and seven months of suspended imprisonment with a probationary period of three years.
03.06.2025 – Another elderly prisoner of conscience convicted in Novocheboksark
JW – On May 30, 2025, the court announced its verdict against Aleksandr Protasov — a 6-year suspended sentence for reading the Bible, discussing it with other people and praying to God. “My life is based on love, not hatred,” he said at one of the hearings, and denied being guilty of extremism.
Protasov is a pensioner from Novocheboksarsk, and was awarded the Order of Honor. In May 2023, his family’s home was searched. “I remember after everyone had left, we sat on the sofa, and didn’t know what to do next,” Aleksandr recalls. In the fall of the next year, a criminal case was initiated against him.
03.06.2025 – Four Jehovah’s Witnesses were sent to the pre-trial detention center in Tomsk
OVD – Four Jehovah’s Witnesses were sent to the pre-trial detention center in the case of an extremist organization (Part 2 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code) in Tomsk, local security forces reported.
The figures are from 24 to 65 years old, two of them are foreigners. According to the investigation, the men visited the apartments of the Tomichi and persuaded them to join the community, and then held meetings online. During the searches, money, literature, documents and equipment were seized from them.
02.06.2025 – Another Friday raid in the Muslim center in Moscow
Sova – On May 30, 2025, the police and riot police raided a Muslim prayer house on Basovskaya Street in Moscow. The security forces arrived in the room during Friday prayer.
This is not the first such raid in this Muslim center.
Recall that a year earlier, a criminal case on the organization of illegal migration was initiated against a religious organization operating here.
