02.10.2025 – Moscow reaches out to Buddhists abroad but faces problems with them at home
Jamestown.org – “ Moscow is expanding its efforts to use Buddhists within the Russian Federation to expand its influence in Buddhist countries abroad, despite facing growing problems among its own Buddhist population due to its divided response to the war against Ukraine.
While it can still field Buddhist leaders ready to parrot Moscow’s line, the Kremlin can no longer count on unity because its moves against anti-war Buddhists have split this faith community and led it to become, in the words of some, “a protest religion.”
29.09.2025 – The International Buddhist Forum in Russia
Asianews – The third International Buddhist Forum on the theme of ‘The Buddhist World in the New Millennium’ was held in Elista, capital of the Russian republic of Kalmykia near the Urals, welcoming guests from across the Russian Federation and 35 countries around the world. The Forum opened with a spectacular musical show on ‘Nomadic Peoples’ by director Andrey Boltenko, set against panoramic views of the steppe projected on large screens and performances by the best artists of Kalmykia, the only predominantly Buddhist region in the European part of Russia, following the migration of Asian peoples in the 17th century.
29.09.2025 – Mass searches in Khakassia and Krasnoyarsk Territory. Three believers sent to pretrial detention Center
JW – The homes of about 25 families of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the villages of Mayna and Cheremushki (Khakassia) were searched, and at least 45 people were interrogated. Three believers — Viktor Timoshchenko, Aleksandr Gorev and Yevgeniy Bagin — were taken into custody. Investigative measures initiated by the FSB of Russia have been carried out since September 23, 2025.
Mayna and Cheremushki are urban settlements with a total population of about 12,000 people, located on the banks of the Yenisei, not far from the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station. During the searches, which began at 6 a.m., phones and electronic devices were confiscated from believers. Jehovah’s Witnesses were interrogated in Sayanogorsk — those from Mayna during the day, and those from Cheremushki close to midnight.
29.09.2025 – In KhMAO, the prosecutor’s office will identify students in hijabs
Sova – On August 30, 2025, it became known that the prosecutor’s office of Nizhnevartovsk plans to conduct inspections of educational institutions for students wearing religious clothing. If students are found in religious clothing, including hijabs and nikabahs, the heads of institutions will be held accountable.
This was reported by a resident of Nizhnevartovsk, who received a corresponding notification from the child’s class teacher.
26.08.2025 – Holy war: How Russia recruited Orthodox priests to sway Moldavia’s voters
Reuters – Russia paid for Moldovan Orthodox priests to make Moscow pilgrimages and gave them debit cards loaded with hundreds of dollars on their return home. In exchange, priests created Telegram channels to influence Moldova’s elections, warning against integration with the European Union and promoting traditional values over ‘gay Europe.’
22.09.2025 – Court in Saransk sent two more Jehovah’s Witnesses to penal colony
JW – On September 19, 2025, the court announced the decision in the case of Ivan Neverov and Mikhail Shevchuk, whose family of Jehovah’s Witnesses were repressed in Soviet times. The court sentenced Ivan Neverov to 7 years in a penal colony and Mikhail Shevchuk to 6.5 years. They were taken into custody in the courtroom.
Back in 2016, before the liquidation of the organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia, Neverov and Shevchuk were eyewitnesses to searchesin a building for worship. “Riot police and officers of the Center for Counteracting Extremism came and again planted literature,” Ivan recalls.
22.09.2025 – In Kostroma, a Pentecostal communist was fined for “illegal missionary work”
Sova – On September 18, 2025, it became known that the magistrate’s court of the judicial district № 4 of the Sverdlovsk judicial district of Kostroma fined Dmitry Kuzmin, deputy of the Kostroma Regional Duma and the Duma of the city of Kostroma, for “illegal missionary work” from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.
According to the court, Kuzmin, being a Christian of the evangelical faith and a candidate for deputies of the city and regional parliaments, conducted missionary activities in a non-designated premises without permits from a religious organization.
19.09.2025 – A college teacher in Cherkessk was fined for banned literature
Sova – In September, it became known that on August 1, 2025, the Cherkess City Court of Karachay-Cherkessia fined Salih Botashev, a teacher of the local technical college, a thousand rubles. He was found guilty under Art. 20.29 Administrative Code (production and distribution of prohibited materials).
According to the court decision, during the inspection of Botashev’s home, law enforcement officers found banned literature from him. We are talking about the publications “Fundamentals of Islam”, “Pillars of Islam and Faith”, “How we understand monotheism”, “Three principles and their proofs”, “The fortres of a Muslim. From the words of remembrance of Allah, found in the Qur’an and Sunnah”, “Islam: ideas, movements, changes” and “The personality of a Muslim, in the form that seeks to give it Islam with the help of the Qur’an and Sunnah”.
18.09.2025 – Court sentences mother of disabled child for talking on Bible Topics
JW – On September 16, 2025, the court gave Yuliya Pasynkova, 34, a 5-year suspended sentence. Her husband, Aleksey, is already serving a suspended sentence for his faith, and her mother-in-law, Tatyana, is also being tried. “Being prosecuted for your faith in God is unnatural,” the believer said.
The Pasynkovs are raising a son with a disability. His illness is incurable. “Timofey is deprived of a normal life. He cannot say what he thinks, what he feels or what he wants,” the believer told the court, “he cannot be left alone even for 5 minutes.” Yuliya had to travel 150 kilometers from home to the hearings, which made the trial even more exhausting for the whole family.
18.09.2025 – A Baptist pastor was fined in Blagoveshchensk for “illegal missionary work”
Sova – On September 16, 2025, it became known that on August 1, the magistrate’s court in the Blagoveshchensk city judicial district № 8 ruled on the case of “illegal missionary work”. On September 8, the Blagoveshchensk City Court confirmed this decision.
The Magistrate’s Court found the presbyter of the local church of the International Union of Evangelical Christian Baptist churches Vladislav Girko guilty under Part 4 of Art. 5.26 of the Administrative Code (implementation of missionary activity in violation of the requirements of the legislation on freedom of conscience, freedom of religion and religious associations) and fined him five thousand rubles.
16.09.2025 – “I will not stop being a christian” — Anastasiya Gaytur, descendant of victims of repression, convicted for her beliefs
JW – On September 15, 2025, Judge Andrey Petrov found Anastasiya Gaytur, 29, guilty of extremism and fined her 300,000 rubles. “Faced with criminal prosecution for my faith, I feel that they artificially want to make me a criminal”, she said in the Kurgan City Court.
Anastasiya argued her position as follows: “There is not a single negative aspect in the case, there are no people whose lives I would have ruined. Even the witnesses for the prosecution didn’t say anything bad about me.” According to the defense, during seven court sessions which took place over 3 months, only the religious affiliation of the believer was proved.
