27.03.2025 – “We faced all these events with smile on our faces” — Dmitriy Zagulin released from Blagoveshchensk penal colony
JW – On March 27, 2026, Jehovah’s Witness Dmitriy Zagulin was released from custody. He and three fellow believers had been convicted for taking part in worship services — actions that investigators equated with “organizing the activities of an extremist organization.” In total, Dmitriy spent 1,191 days behind bars.
Dmitriy had worked for many years at Russian Railways, where management valued him and repeatedly commended him for his conscientious service.
In May 2018, a “judgement day,” as it was called by law enforcement, came for Zagulin and his fellow believers — during that special operation, large‑scale searches of Jehovah’s Witnesses were carried out in Birobidzhan. Ten months later, a criminal case was opened against Dmitriy.
26.03.2026 – A Muslim blogger was arrested under Art. 20.3.1 Administrative Code
Sova – Veronika Gerasimovskaya was arrested for 10 days for a post in which, in response to allegations of criminality of Muslims, ratings of the most criminal states were given, indicating the dominant religions in them.
On March 25, 2026, the Tagansky District Court of Moscow arrested Veronica Gerasimovskaya for 10 days under Art. 20.3.1 Administrative Code (incitement to hatred or enmity, as well as humiliation of human dignity).
The reason was the post that the native of Kirov and former participant of TikTok House made in her Telegram channel “nicki geser”. It contained screenshots of English-language tweets with ratings of countries on the scale of prostitution, alcoholism, intentional murders, as well as lists of the largest drug cartels and mafia groups in the world. Near each item, it was indicated which religion the majority of the country’s population belongs to or to which the members of the group belong. Gerasimovskaya added the corresponding explanation in Russian to her post.
25.03.2026 – The court began considering the case of the Jehovah’s Witness from Chelyabinsk
Sova – On March 16, 2026, the Soviet District Court of Chelyabinsk began to consider the merits of the case of Jehovah’s Witness Elena Mironova, accused under Part 2 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code (participation in the activities of an extremist organization) and Part 1 of Art. 282.3 of the Criminal Code (financing of extremism).
24.03.2026 – In Monchegorsk, a Muslim community was fined for “illegal missionary work”
Sova – On March 23, 2026, it became known that the Muslim community in Monchegorsk, Murmansk region, was fined for “illegal missionary work”.
The Magistrate Court found the religious organization “Community of Muslims of the City of Monchegorsk” guilty under Art. 3. 5.26 of the Administrative Code (implementation of missionary activities without specifying its full name, including the distribution of printed or video materials without marking) and fined it 30 thousand rubles.
24.03.2026 – In the Moscow region, the organizers of an illegal “krishna” school were punished for “illegal missionary work”
Sova – On March 24, 2026, it became known that in the village of Korgashino near Mytishchi in the Moscow region, the police stopped the activities of the unregistered school “Peace for the Best”, whose students were involved in the religious practices of Krishnas.
In addition to general education lessons, schoolchildren had to pray to Krishna, read religious literature, in the class journal instead of the names and surnames of the students, their spiritual names were indicated. In addition, the children were taught to play Indian musical instruments.
21.03.2026 – Attack on the parishioners of the choral synagogue in Moscow
Sova – On the evening of March 20, 2026, right at the entrance to the choral synagogue near the Kitai-gorod metro station, a group of young people attacked parishioners leaving the synagogue building.
An eyewitness reported in the media that “people who left the synagogue were attacked for being in a kile”, and suggested that “maybe related to the war in Iran”. The video clearly shows the shouts of the group of attackers: “one Russian for the whole China City” and “what’s going on with the Russian world?” After a small brawl, one of the young people threatened to “put a man on a knife” in a pile, but for what exactly, he did not have time to explain: his comrades dissuaded him from it.
20.03.2026 – Large‑scale sweep in the Trans‑Baikal territory — searches affected at least 30 people
JW – A raid targeting Jehovah’s Witnesses from Chita and several other localities in the Trans‑Baikal Territory took place on March 19, 2026. At least ten people have become defendants in a new criminal case.
The investigation is being conducted by Senior Investigator S. Urbazaev of the Investigative Department of the FSB Directorate for the Trans‑Baikal Territory. Five people are suspected of organizing the activities of an extremist organization (Part 1, Article 282.2 of the Russian Criminal Code), and another five are suspected of participating in it (Part 2, Article 282.2).
20.03.2026 – Residents of a village in the Samara region opposed the construction of a mosque
Sova – In March 2026, residents of the village of Voskresenka, Volzhsky district, Samara region, appealed to various authorities with complaints about the construction of a mosque in the village.
They believe that there are few Muslims in the village, and the rest of the residents need not a religious building, but a kindergarten and polyclinic, which operated in the village, but were recently closed.
Opponents of construction were outraged that the foundation of the mosque was poured even before the public hearings.
19.03.2026 – Searches of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Nizhny Novgorod: four believers placed in pretrial detention
JW – On March 17, 2026, searches were conducted in Nizhny Novgorod and the surrounding area at 10 homes of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Sixteen people were affected, including five families. Among them were Sergey and Viktoriya Verkhoturov, who had served sentences for their faith several years earlier.
On the day of the searches, the court ordered four men—Sergey Verkhoturov, Maksim Kalinin, Anatoliy Chepkasov, and Evgeny Konkov—to be placed in a pretrial detention center (SIZO).
The raid was carried out as part of a new criminal case for participation in the activities of an extremist organization, which the Ministry of Internal Affairs opened on March 5, 2026, against unidentified persons. The searches were initiated by Investigator A. E. Stifeev.
18.03.2026 – Handcuffed, stripped, beaten, “repeatedly subjected to electric shocks”
Forum 18 – The FSB raided at least four Jehovah’s Witness households in Dimitrovgrad in Ulyanovsk Region early on 3 February. Masked officers knocked down Zhanna Popova when she answered the door.
An officer struck her 60-year-old husband Igor Popov in the back, “forcibly twisting his neck”, apparently to make him give up his computer password. At the local FSB headquarters, Popov was handcuffed, stripped, beaten, and “repeatedly subjected to electric shocks”. An investigator forced him to sign a prepared statement “incriminating himself”.
Officials have not answered Forum 18’s questions about the torture.
On 3 February, officers of the Federal Security Service (FSB) assaulted a number of Jehovah’s Witnesses during raids on their homes in Dimitrovgrad in Ulyanovsk Region. Officers subjected at least two of them to torture.
Investigators subsequently charged four people with organising or participating in “the activities of a banned extremist organisation” for continuing to meet for worship.
17.03.2026 – In Kaluga, the Court sent believers to penal colony for 6.5 years
JW – On March 13, 2026, Judge Irina Tarelicheva of the Kaluzhskiy District Court sentenced 50‑year‑old Roman Makhnev and 61‑year‑old Dmitriy Kuzin to six and a half years of imprisonment.
They were branded as extremists for meeting with fellow believers, singing songs together, praying, and reading the Bible.
Makhnev and Kuzin are graduates of Bauman Moscow State Technical University. Dmitriy is a mechanical engineer specializing in turbine engineering, and Roman is a design and process engineer in radio‑electronic equipment. They have been friends for almost 30 years.
17.03.2026 – USCIRF once again classified Russia as a country with blatant violations of freedom of religion
Sova – On March 4, 2026, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) published a new annual report. Its authors believe that freedom of religion is still seriously violated in Russia.
The authors of the report mentioned the recognition of religious organizations as extremist and undesirable, the ongoing criminal prosecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses and Muslims (“Hiz but-Tahrir”, “Tabligi Jamaat”, followers of Said Nursi), as well as representatives of “Falun Gong” and “Alla Ayat”.
