Source: www.forum18.org
Date: June 16, 2025
https://www.forum18.org/archiv
By Victoria Arnold, Forum 18
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.
More than 95 per cent of defendants whose cases reached a verdict are known
to have been found guilty during this period (see below).
A Magistrate's Court in Kurganinsk fined Aleksandr Chmykh, pastor of the
Kurganinsk Council of Churches Baptist church, 5,000 Roubles in March 2024
for having "organised and conducted worship services in Kurganinsk, by
which he violated the requirements of the [Religion Law], namely, he did
not submit in the established order notification of the beginning of the
activities of the religious group to the Justice Ministry". Five other
Baptists who participated in a two-day conference were also prosecuted (see
below).
Four women were among others prosecuted: a Roman Catholic from Zabaykalsk
Region who made posts in the VKontakte group of the "Sisters Servants of
the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Immaculate Conception" (a Catholic religious
congregation); a Muslim teacher who led prayers and Koranic studies for
girls in Stavropol; a Protestant pastor who put on an educational event
about Christmas at a cultural centre in Chukotka Region; and a Seventh-day
Adventist from the Mari El Republic (see below).
For a list of the 90 known prosecutions in the 2024 calendar year and 34
known prosecutions in the first four months of 2025, see forthcoming
F18News article.
Russian citizens found guilty of "unlawful missionary activity" are
prosecuted under Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 4, and can receive
fines of 5,000 to 50,000 Roubles. Foreign citizens can be fined 30,000 to
50,000 Roubles under Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 5. They may
also be expelled from the country. Registered organisations (also
prosecuted under Part 4) can be fined up to 100,000 Roubles (see below).
A fine of 50,000 Roubles represented two and a half weeks' average wages in
2024 for those in work or just over 10 weeks' average state retirement
pension (see below).
(Russia is also imposing these punishments
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
it has illegally occupied.)
Both Forum 18's figures, drawn from available court records, and the
Russian Supreme Court's figures (which are not disaggregated and include
cases under Parts 1-3 of Administrative Code Article 5.26) indicate an
increase in prosecutions in the last year.
Forum 18 has also found an increase in administrative expulsions of foreign
citizens. This may be difficult to track in the future, however, as
amendments to the Administrative Code, which came into force in February
2025, enable police to expel non-Russians in missionary-related cases
without needing to go to court (see below).
Forum 18 asked police and prosecutors in several regions why they had
brought charges of "unlawful missionary activity" against individuals who
had conducted worship services in places of worship or prayer rooms, or on
residential premises (freely permitted under the Religion Law) and where
only people who were already members of the community were present. Police
and prosecutors gave no explanation for this (see below).
The proportion of cases involving Muslims remains high, continuing a trend
Forum 18 first observed in 2019-2020. The activity for which most Muslims
are prosecuted under Administrative Code Article 5.26, Parts 4 and 5 is
simply conducting prayers on premises which are not officially designated
places of worship – such as workplaces, workers' hostels, or unregistered
prayer houses (see below).
Council of Churches Baptists, who do not seek state registration of their
communities, have also faced increasing rates of prosecution for "unlawful
missionary activity". Prosecutions are usually linked to the fact that they
do not submit notification to the authorities of the creation of a
religious group. In some cases, this has been used as partial grounds for
prosecutors to seek a ban on their activities (see below).
On 16 May 2025, bailiffs sealed a Baptist church in Kurganinsk (Krasnodar
Region) whose activities a court had prohibited in September 2024. Churches
in Belorechensk (also Krasnodar Region), Tula, and Blagoveshchensk are also
facing a similar ban on activities (see forthcoming F18News article).
Religious organisations also continue to face prosecution under
Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 3 ("Implementation of activities by
a religious organisation without indicating its official full name,
including the issuing or distribution, within the framework of missionary
activity, of literature and printed, audio, and video material without a
label bearing this name, or with an incomplete or deliberately false
label"). Religious organisations are prosecuted for not showing the
complete forms of their officially registered names
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online, and most frequently on buildings.
Broadly defined "missionary activity"
On 6 July 2016, President Vladimir Putin signed amendments to the Religion
Law imposing tight restrictions on the sharing of beliefs, including on
where and by whom they may be shared. The amendments effectively ban
broadly defined "missionary activity" by anyone without written permission
from an officially recognised religious association, and apparently any
activity performed by religious organisations not using their full legal
names.
The amendments also prohibit "missionary activity" on residential premises,
or by anyone who is a former member of an "extremist" religious
organisation. They allow wide scope for arbitrary official actions.
The amendments were introduced as part of an "anti-terrorism" package
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
Russia Duma deputy Irina Yarovaya and Senator Viktor Ozerov. Protests
against the changes were widespread.
A 2015 amendment to the Religion Law required all unregistered religious
groups to notify the authorities (usually regional branches of the Justice
Ministry) of their existence and activities. This includes providing the
names and addresses of all their members, and addresses where any meeting
takes place. The written authorisation required by anyone conducting
missionary activity on behalf of a religious group includes "written
confirmation of receipt and registration of the notification of the
[group's] creation and commencement of activities" – the lack of such
notification is therefore often taken as evidence of unlawful missionary
activity", even if no group in fact exists.
This is despite a 15 October 2018 Constitutional Court ruling that failure
to submit notification of the existence of a religious group does not in
isolation constitute an offence under Article 5.26, Part 4 (see below).
Punishments
Individuals and legal entities who violate any of the July 2016
restrictions and requirements are subject to punishment under
Administrative Code Article 5.26:
- Part 3 ("Implementation of activities by a religious organisation without
indicating its official full name, including the issuing or distribution,
within the framework of missionary activity, of literature and printed,
audio, and video material without a label bearing this name, or with an
incomplete or deliberately false label");
- Part 4 ("Russians conducting missionary activity");
- or Part 5 ("Foreigners conducting missionary activity").
These were all signed into law at the same time.
Under Part 4 ("Russians conducting missionary activity"), Russian citizens
are liable for a fine of 5,000 to 50,000 Roubles. For organisations (legal
entities), the fine stands at 100,000 to 1 million Roubles. Religious
groups, while they may share their beliefs in limited circumstances, are
not legal entities – their members are therefore subject to prosecution
as individuals.
A fine of 50,000 Roubles represented two and a half weeks' average wages in
2024 for those in work or just over 10 weeks' average state retirement
pension.
Under Article 5.26, Part 5, foreign citizens may be fined 30,000 to 50,000
Roubles for the same offence as under Part 4, with the possibility of
expulsion from Russia.
Punishments under Part 3 ("Implementation of activities by a religious
organisation without indicating its official full name, including the
issuing or distribution, within the framework of missionary activity, of
literature and printed, audio, and video material without a label bearing
this name, or with an incomplete or deliberately false label") are a fine
of 30,000 to 50,000 Roubles and possible confiscation of any materials.
Prosecution under Article 5.26, Part 4 may have further consequences for
religious communities.
Constitutional Court interpretations of "missionary activity"
On 13 March 2018, the Constitutional Court issued an interpretation
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
norms in the "anti-missionary" legislation. "A defining feature
[sistemoobrazuyushchy priznak] of missionary activity", it declared, "is
the dissemination, by citizens and their associations, of information about
a specific religious belief among persons who, not being its followers, are
involved in their number, including as participants in specific religious
associations".
Distributing information – for example, about meetings for worship,
ceremonies, or events – therefore "falls under the definition of
missionary activity as such, only if it contains the said defining
feature".
The Constitutional Court concluded that establishing whether missionary
activity has been carried out requires "the identification of all the signs
of missionary activity specified in [the Religion Law]". If any is absent,
the religious activity "cannot qualify as missionary activity in the sense
of the [Religion Law], and therefore, even if it is committed in violation
of the requirements of the [Religion Law], it does not constitute an
offence as stipulated in Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 4".
The Constitutional Court has issued three further statements on Article
5.26, Part 4:
– on 15 October 2018, that failure to submit notification of the
existence of a religious group does not in isolation constitute an offence
under Part 4, and courts should take into account all the circumstances to
ascertain whether the Constitutional Court's definition of the "defining
feature" of missionary activity has been met (it is difficult to ascertain
whether this is having any effect on court decisions separately from the
Constitutional Court's March 2018 ruling);
– on 11 February 2021, that missionary activity may be conducted outside
the explicitly permitted locations listed in Religion Law Article 24.1
(which include places of worship (v kultovykh pomeshchaniyakh), other
buildings and land to which religious organisations have property rights,
cemeteries, and pilgrimage sites), as long as it complies with all the
requirements of Religion Law Article 24.2;
– and on 29 September 2022, that "the implementation by citizens (foreign
citizens, stateless persons) of missionary activity on behalf of a
religious group, in turn, testifies to the creation of such a group, the
legal existence of which presupposes notification of the beginning of its
activity"(see below).
While judges often explicitly acknowledge the Constitutional Court's
interpretations of Article 5.26 in their rulings, this rarely leads to
acquittal. Between January 2024 and April 2025, Forum 18 found only three
acquittals, all of which were based on the March 2018 clarification of
"missionary activity" (a judge sent a fourth case back to police on the
same basis).
Statistics
In an analysis of available court records, Forum 18 found a total of 124
prosecutions under Administrative Code Article 5.26, Parts 4 and 5 in the
calendar year 2024 and the first four months of 2025.
It is unknown how many other individuals and organisations may have faced
charges, as cases against Russian citizens and legal entities (which
comprise the vast majority) are heard in magistrates' courts, of which
there are 7,745 across the country, almost all of which are searchable only
individually. Establishing accurate figures is also difficult if religious
communities or their members do not themselves make prosecutions known.
Administrative Code amendments meaning that most Article 5.26, Part 5 cases
will be handled only by police, not courts, has also made the prosecution
of foreigners hard to track since February 2025 (see below).
Russia's Supreme Court releases the number of cases brought each year under
Article 5.26 as a whole, but does not disaggregate these figures, meaning
that they include prosecutions under Part 3 (which was introduced as part
of the 2016 anti-missionary amendment
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
punishes failure to display a religious organisation's official full name),
and Parts 1 and 2, (which respectively punish "Obstructing the exercise of
the right to freedom of conscience and religion" and "Deliberate public
desecration" of religious objects and symbols).
Nevertheless, lawyers and human rights commentators believe the Supreme
Court's figures broadly illustrate trends in Part 4 and 5 prosecutions.
Lawyer Anatoly Pchelintsev noted on his Telegram channel on 21 April that
the majority of cases enumerated by the Supreme Court will be
missionary-related, "as is shown by [legal] practice". Another lawyer with
experience of Article 5.26 prosecutions confirmed to Forum 18 on 29 May
that "Parts 1 and 2 are very rare, a few cases per year", and that Part 4
is the "most common".
The Supreme Court's figures for the last few years are:
2024 – 431, of which 294 received punishments;
2023 – 354, of which 228 received punishments;
2022 – 388, of which 238 received punishments;
2021 – 329, of which 201 received punishments;
2020 – 335, of which 217 received punishments.
Both the Supreme Court's and Forum 18's figures show an increase in
prosecutions in 2024.
Forum 18's review of available court records found 90 prosecutions in the
2024 calendar year (64 under Article 5.26, Part 4; 26 under Article 5.26,
Part 5). It found 34 in January to April 2025 (26 under Part 4; 9 under
Part 5). Six of these involved registered religious organisations, the
remainder individuals, one of whom was charged as an "official person"
(dolzhnostnoye litso) and punished more harshly than a private citizen (a
Moscow Region imam who was fined 30,000 Roubles for holding or allowing
prayers three times a day in two prayer houses, allegedly using
amplification).
Only four women appear to have been prosecuted in the cases Forum 18 found:
a Roman Catholic from Zabaykalsk Region who made posts in the VKontakte
group of the Sisters Servants of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Immaculate
Conception (a Catholic religious congregation); a Muslim teacher who led
prayers and Koranic studies for girls in Stavropol; a Protestant pastor who
put on an educational event about Christmas at a cultural centre in
Chukotka Region; and a Seventh-day Adventist from the Mari El Republic, the
details of whose two prosecutions are unknown.
A number of cases appear to be based on surveillance by the Federal
Security Service (FSB), which then informs prosecutors or police, who open
administrative cases against the people or communities involved. Other
cases may arise from police monitoring of religious communities' activities
or routine prosecutor's office "inspections of compliance with the
requirements" of the Religion Law and Extremism Law, or are triggered by
calls to police or prosecutors from members of the public.
Lawyer Sergey Chugunov described on his Telegram channel on 26 April 2022
(https://t.me/chugunovsv/22) a case in which the FSB's "operational
information", on which police based the prosecution, turned out to be a
community's entry in the list of churches on the Protestant.ru website,
which is drawn up without participation or knowledge of communities
themselves. "All that remains for the valiant law enforcement officers is
to go through the list of churches in their region, identify those who have
not registered an organisation or notified [the Justice Ministry] about a
group, and invite the violators to come in to draw up a protocol [of an
offence]," Chugunov wrote.
It is usually unclear from court decisions, however, how activities come to
the attention of investigative agencies, either because judges have not
included such information or because it has been redacted in publicly
available records.
Convictions remain high – appeals few and largely unsuccessful
With the caveat that it is not possible to give exact statistics because of
the difficulty in obtaining comprehensive and reliable data, the conviction
rate for prosecutions found by Forum 18 appears to have increased. Between
January 2024 and April 2025, first-instance courts convicted 108 defendants
and acquitted three. They sent a further 10 cases back to police or
prosecutors. Three cases were dismissed because they reached court after
the permitted three-month time period for administrative prosecutions had
passed (the statute of limitations).
This gives an initial conviction rate of 97.28 per cent for known cases
which reached a verdict, and 87.01 per cent overall. Between July 2020 and
December 2021, the conviction rate was 84.52 per cent for cases found by
Forum 18 which reached a verdict – for the period January 2019 to June
2020, this figure was 90.86 per cent; in 2018, 90 per cent; and in 2016-17,
82 per cent.
Defendants submitted initial appeals in 31 known cases. Of these, 25 were
unsuccessful and none was successful. The outcome of one appeal is as yet
unknown. One appeal was rejected without consideration because of a missing
signature and two for late submission. Two defendants succeeded in having
their sentences changed, although the guilty verdicts were upheld (these
were a Polish Catholic priest, ordered expelled from Russia under Article
5.26, Part 5, who managed to have his expulsion order overturned, and a
Russian Orthodox (Moscow Patriarchate) parish, whose offence under Article
5.26, Part 4 was deemed insignificant and whose fine was therefore waived).
Eleven defendants challenged their unsuccessful appeal rulings in the
cassational courts. So far, one of these cassational appeals has been
successful (because of the statute of limitations), one unsuccessful, and
two rejected without consideration. The remainder are yet to be considered.
Religious profile
A wide range of religious backgrounds continues to be represented in known
cases brought under Administrative Code Article 5.26, Parts 4 and 5.
Muslims form a strong plurality as they have done over the last few years.
Known prosecutions in the calendar year 2024 and the first four months of
2025 involved individuals or organisations belonging to the following
religious communities:
Muslim – 50 (35 in 2024, 15 in January to April 2025);
Council of Churches Baptists – 24 (16, 8);
Baptist Union – 4 (4, 0);
other Protestant – 7 (4, 3);
Society for Krishna Consciousness – 5 (4, 1);
Seventh-day Adventist – 2 (2, 0);
Roman Catholic – 3 (2, 1);
Armenian Catholic – 1 (1, 0);
Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) – 1 (1, 0);
Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church – 1 (1, 0);
independent Orthodox – 1 (1, 0);
Orthodox-linked commercial entity – 1 (1, 0);
Christian of unknown denomination – 1 (1, 0);
Unknown affiliation – 23 (18, 5).
Muslims appear to be particularly vulnerable to the continued tendency of
police and prosecutors to discern a "missionary" element even in ordinary
gatherings for worship involving only fellow believers. An increasing
number of raids on workplaces, hostels, and cultural centres by police
looking for illegal immigrants, particularly in Moscow, have also led to a
high number of Article 5.26, Part 5 prosecutions of Muslim migrant workers
(23 known cases out of 34 Part 5 cases found).
The comparatively large number of prosecutions of Council of Churches
Baptists derives mostly from an apparent increase in police and security
service attention towards these communities in Krasnodar Region. Krasnodar
Region saw 19 of the 24 cases involving people (mostly pastors) of this
denomination.
Geographical spread
Twenty-eight out of Russia's 83 federal subjects saw at least one known
prosecution under Article 5.26, Parts 4 and 5 in 2024 and the first four
months of 2025 (not counting Russian-annexed Ukrainian Regions).
The highest numbers of known prosecutions across this whole period were
found in: Krasnodar Region – 29; Moscow – 22; Stavropol Region – 14;
Tatarstan Republic – 12; Rostov Region – 5; Republic of Adygeya – 5.
The Krasnodar Region cases were derived from 19 investigations, including
the prosecution of six Baptist pastors over one event (see below). As well
as Council of Churches Baptists, Muslims, other Protestants, an Armenian
Catholic priest, and a Polish Roman Catholic priest (see forthcoming
F18News article) have also faced prosecution in this region.
"Due to proximity to the Caucasus, perhaps the fight against extremism is
being conducted more actively (at least on paper) [in Krasnodar Region],
and it is easiest to fight under Article 5.26," a Russian human rights
researcher commented to Forum 18 on 9 June. "And the personal attitude of
the security forces towards 'sectarians' must be taken into account.
Baptists are now being actively suppressed there."
"Krasnodar is a complex region and finding the truth is extremely
difficult," lawyer Anatoly Pchelintsev noted on Telegram on 27 January
2025.
Prosecutions lead to bans and church closures?
A single conviction of a religious community member under Article 5.26,
Part 4 ("Russians conducting missionary activity") alone is not grounds for
the dissolution of a religious association. Prosecutors or Justice Ministry
branches may, however, use it in conjunction with other legal violations
– or may use repeat convictions – as evidence in requesting the
liquidation of a registered religious organisation or the suspension of a
religious group.
This practice appears to have intensified in relation to Council of
Churches Baptist communities in 2024 and 2025. Courts have ordered the
suspension of activities of their churches in Kurganinsk and Belorechensk,
both in Krasnodar Region. Courts cited the prosecution of their pastors for
conducting "missionary activity" without notifying the Justice Ministry of
the creation of religious groups as partial grounds for the decisions.
Council of Churches Baptists do not register their communities as religious
organisations or submit notification of their existence as religious
groups, arguing that the Religion Law and the Constitution permit them to
meet for worship without state involvement.
Kurganinsk District Magistrate's Court No. 167 fined Aleksandr Chmykh,
pastor of the Kurganinsk church, 5,000 Roubles under Article 5.26, Part 4
on 18 March 2024 for having "organised and conducted worship services in
Kurganinsk, by which he violated the requirements of the [Religion Law],
namely, he did not submit in the established order notification of the
beginning of the activities of the religious group to the Justice
Ministry".
The worship services in questions were in fact a two-day conference of the
Caucasian Association of Council of Churches, according to the Council of
Churches-Baptists Intercession Department. Five other Baptists who
participated in the event were also prosecuted under Article 5.26, Part 4.
On 6 September 2024, Kurganinsk District Court upheld a lawsuit from
prosecutors seeking a ban on the activities of Chmykh's church until the
community submitted notification of its existence.
"In the building of the House of Prayer .. with the participation of
residents of [Krasnodar Region] and neighbouring regions, including minors
and missionaries and foreign citizens, illegal missionary religious events
are systematically held," prosecutors argued in court, according to the
written decision, seen by Forum 18.
The ban entered legal force upon its unsuccessful appeal at Krasnodar
Regional Court on 26 November 2024. The community continued its activities.
Pastor Chmykh received two further fines for "unlawful missionary activity"
on 10 February 2025.
After Chmykh again appealed unsuccessfully against the ban at the 4th
Cassational Court in Krasnodar on 7 May 2025, bailiffs sealed the church
building on 16 May 2025. The community has since met for worship in front
of its closed building.
Forum 18 wrote to Kurganinsk District Magistrate's Court No. 167 on 11
March to ask why it had found Pastor Chmykh guilty of "unlawful missionary
activity" when the events in question took place inside the church and only
fellow Baptists were present. Forum 18 had received no response by the end
of the working day of 16 June.
Forum 18 wrote to the Krasnodar Region branch of the Federal Security
Service (FSB), upon whose information prosecutors based their request to
ban the church's activities, on 7 March, asking why a church conference was
considered an "unauthorised mass event" when held inside the church itself,
and why it was considered "unlawful missionary activity" if only fellow
believers were present. Forum 18 had received no response by the end of the
working day of 16 June.
Forum 18 wrote to Kurganinsk District Court asking why it had upheld the
prosecutors' request to prohibit the church's activities, and seeking to
clarify whether the church would be able to resume operations if it submits
notification of its existence. The court press service responded on 17
March, ignoring Forum 18's first question but confirming that the court
decision suspended the church's activities "until the elimination of
violations by means of sending notification of the beginning of the
activities of a religious group to the Office of the Justice Ministry for
Krasnodar Region. After the elimination of violations, activity can be
resumed".
Article 5.26, Part 5: expulsion from Russia – now extrajudicial?
On 5 February 2025, amendments to several Articles of the Administrative
Code came into legal force. These remove Article 5.26, Part 5 ("Foreigners
conducting missionary activity") from the list of offences automatically
considered by a judge and transfer them largely to the jurisdiction of the
police and other Interior Ministry bodies, while adding the police to the
list of authorities able to impose administrative expulsion as punishment
for administrative offences (previously, only a judge could issue such an
order).
If a Part 5 case is initiated by "a body authorised to exercise functions
in the sphere of control (supervision) over the activities of non-profit
organisations", i.e. a branch of the Justice Ministry (vanishingly rare in
Part 5 cases), it will still be sent to court and considered by a judge.
If the police decide to have an individual expelled from Russia, there will
be no public court record of the case unless the person manages to lodge an
appeal.
Forum 18 has so far found only one example of the police extra-judicially
punishing a foreign citizen under Article 5.26, Part 5 after 5 February
2025, Muslim university student Samir Sharipov (see forthcoming F18News
article).
Out of 35 prosecutions under Article 5.26, Part 5 in 2024 and the first
four months of 2025, 32 resulted in guilty verdicts, 18 of which are known
to have included administrative expulsion from Russia (some punishments are
unknown). This appears to represent an increase on previous years.
Most Part 5 cases involve Muslims who appear to be migrant workers from
Central Asian countries – they are mostly prosecuted for praying in their
workplaces (despite often having their employers' support) or in hostel
accommodation.
Forum 18 found Part 5 cases involving citizens of the following countries:
Tajikistan – 7; Uzbekistan – 7; Poland – 2; Kyrgyzstan – 1; Armenia
– 1; Ireland – 1. In 16 court rulings, defendants' citizenship was
redacted, but the majority of these also appear to come from Central Asia.
Persistent lack of clarity over what constitutes missionary activity
Despite the Constitutional Court's attempts to clarify the law and the ways
in which it should be applied, police and prosecutors continue to open
cases against individuals and their communities for a wide range of
activities, and judges continue to find them guilty.
Common grounds for prosecution include a lack of written authorisation from
a religious organisation or group to carry out missionary activity on its
behalf. This assumes, firstly, that everyone carrying out missionary
activity must be representing a formally constituted religious association,
rather than simply sharing their own beliefs (many defendants appear not to
be members of any association); and secondly, that any activity which
individuals might perform on behalf of (or merely in connection with) their
religious communities is inherently "missionary".
The Religion Law states that missionary activity may be freely carried out
in places of worship (v kultovykh pomeshcheniyakh), but is prohibited on
residential premises "except in cases provided for by Article 16 Part 2" of
the Religion Law, according to which "Religious services and other
religious rites and ceremonies" may freely take place on residential
premises.
Police and prosecutors often a) interpret simply meeting for worship as
"missionary activity", and b) do not treat residential or commercial
premises as "places of worship" (even if communities or individuals have
formal permission from their owners to use them for worship meetings).
(Because of the difficulties some religious communities encounter in
building, buying, or renting their own spaces for worship, they often have
to meet on premises which are technically designated residential or
commercial. This can also lead to prosecution under Administrative Code
Article 8.8, Part 1 ("The use of a land plot not for its intended purpose
in accordance with its belonging to a particular land category and/or
authorised use").)
– on 27 May 2024, Neklinovsky District Magistrate's Court No. 2 (Rostov
Region) fined Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church priest Hieromonk Dionisiy
(Dmitry Belolipetsky) 5,000 Roubles under Article 5.26, Part 4 for having
"disseminated his beliefs among persons who are not members of the
religious association" at a service "where participants sang religious
hymns, read the Bible, prayed" at the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and
Paul in Sovetka village, without written authorisation from the religious
association to perform missionary activity on its behalf;
(Belolipetsky's predecessor Archimandrite Artyomy (Aleksandr) Smitchenko,
who died in 2022, was also fined
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
Part 4 by the same court in December 2020 for identical reasons.)
Forum 18 wrote to Rostov Regional Prosecutor's Office and the Magistrate's
Court on 5 June 2025, asking why Belolipetsky had been prosecuted for
simply leading worship in his own church, when this does not have the
defining feature of missionary activity as set out by the Constitutional
Court in March 2018. Forum 18 had received no response by the end of the
working day in Rostov Region of 16 June.
– on 2 July 2024, Sterlitamak Magistrate's Court No. 3 (Republic of
Bashkortostan) fined Council of Churches Baptist pastor Oleg Alekseyev
5,000 Roubles under Article 5.26, Part 4 for holding a worship service in
his own home "with the participation of a person who is not a member of the
group", without written authorisation from the religious group to carry out
missionary activity and without having notified the Justice Ministry of the
group's existence. Police had videoed the service during an inspection of
"implementation of legislation on countering extremist activity". The
prosecutor argued that the fact a police officer could freely enter the
house and participate in the service is evidence of missionary activity.
Pastor Alekseyev appealed unsuccessfully at Sterlitamak City Court on 12
August 2024.
Forum 18 wrote to the Republic of Bashkortostan Prosecutor's Office and the
Magistrate's Court on 6 June 2025 asking why Pastor Alekseyev had been
prosecuted for simply leading worship in his own church, when this does not
have the defining feature of missionary activity as set out by the
Constitutional Court in March 2018. Forum 18 had received no response from
either by the end of the working day of 16 June.
– 1 August 2024, Aleksin Inter-District Court (Tula Region) fined Kyrgyz
citizen Okhunzhon Isabayev 35,000 Roubles under Article 5.26, Part 5 for
leading Muslim prayers "without documents on state registration", in a
prayer room he had equipped with carpets, a clock, and religious
literature. Isabayev's company had provided the prayer room in an
administrative building at the request of Muslim employees. The judge noted
Isabayev's employer's positive character reference, his legal migration
status, and his lack of previous offences in deciding not to expel him from
Russia.
Forum 18 wrote to Tula Region Prosecutor's Office and Tula Region's Unified
Court Press Service on 6 June, asking why Isabayev had been prosecuted for
simply leading prayers, when this does not have the defining feature of
missionary activity as set out by the Constitutional Court in March 2018.
Olga Dyachuk, head of the Unified Court Press Service, responded on 11
June, directing Forum 18 to the written verdict on the court website. Forum
18 had received no response from the Prosecutor's Office by the end of the
working day of 16 June.
"Missionary" prosecutions effectively prosecution for failure to notify
Another common reason for prosecution for "missionary activity" under
Article 5.26, Part 4 or 5 is the failure to submit notification to a
regional branch of the Justice Ministry of the existence of a religious
group. This is cited in the verdicts of 31 cases found by Forum 18 between
January 2024 and April 2025.
Failure to notify does not constitute a specific offence, although it can
be prosecuted under Administrative Code Article 19.5 ("Failure to comply
with a legal order (resolution, submission, decision) of a body (official)
exercising state supervision (control)". Legislators in Bashkortostan
proposed amendments to the federal Religion Law in 2016, which would have
a) clarified the requirement for religious groups to submit notification,
and b) introduced fines for non-compliance. The State Duma eventually
rejected this on 8 February 2023.
Cherlak District Magistrate's Court No. 105 (Omsk Region) fined Council of
Churches Baptist pastor German Adrian 5,000 Roubles on 26 January 2024 for
leading worship in his own house. The judge concluded that Adrian had
disseminated "information about the doctrine of 'Christianity' of this
group among persons who are not members of this religious group, with the
purpose of involving these persons in the religious group, [and] conducted
ceremonies and services on the premises of his home among persons who are
not members of the religious group, by appealing to their consciousness,
will, [and] feelings, including by disclosure .. of his own religious views
and convictions, without observing the notification procedure for the
activities of this religious group".
Pastor Adrian appealed unsuccessfully at Cherlak District Court on 24
February 2024 and the 8th Cassational Court in Kemerovo on 25 April 2024.
Forum 18 wrote to the Omsk Region Interior Ministry and Magistrate's Court
No. 105 on 6 June to ask why Adrian had been prosecuted simply for
conducting worship without submitting notification to the Justice Ministry,
given that, firstly, this lacks the defining feature of "missionary
activity" as set out by the Constitutional Court, and secondly, that
failure to notify should not in itself constitute an offence. Forum 18 had
received no response from either by the end of the working day in Omsk
Region of 16 June.
The Religion Law does not set out a specific process for the creation of a
religious group. After a court banned their community's activities
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
submitted notification and subsequently carried out "unlawful missionary
activity", Council of Churches Baptists in Anapa appealed to the
Constitutional Court in 2022 to clarify this. The Constitutional Court
refused to consider the appeal.
The Court stated in its 29 September 2022 ruling that "the implementation
by citizens (foreign citizens, stateless persons) of missionary activity on
behalf of a religious group, in turn testifies to the creation of such a
group, the legal existence of which presupposes notification of the
beginning of its activity".
"In my opinion, such an approach can only mean that the problem we raised
will not be addressed", the Baptists' lawyer Sergey Chugunov commented on
his Telegram channel (https://t.me/chugunovsv/87) after the ruling on 3
November 2022. "The uncertainty of the law is obviously beneficial to law
enforcement."
"Citizens have the right to practice religion together without creating
religious associations," Chugunov noted on 18 May 2025
(https://t.me/chugunovsv/404). "If citizens say that they have not created
any group, then this is their legal right. To prove the opposite, criteria
prescribed by law are needed. Without such criteria, all decisions to
prohibit citizens from gathering contradict current legislation and the
Constitution of the Russian Federation."
Chugunov believes that the situation is being left deliberately ambiguous.
"Because if criteria for creating religious groups are prescribed, this
will clearly distinguish this right from the right to gather without
creating associations," he notes. "Thus, emphasising and confirming the
right to gather without creating anything. After this, creating a group
will be a pointless exercise, because [being] a group does not grant any
additional rights. Why is it needed at all? It seems that someone does not
want such a result." (END)
More reports on freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Russia
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
For background information see Forum 18's Russia religious freedom survey
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
Forum 18's compilation of Organisation for Security and Co-operation in
Europe (OSCE) freedom of religion or belief commitments
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
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(https://bsky.app/profile/foru
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full, if Forum 18 is credited as the source.
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copyright terms the copyright owner has chosen.
© Forum 18 News Service. All rights reserved. ISSN 1504-2855.
https://www.forum18.org/archiv
By Victoria Arnold, Forum 18
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.
More than 95 per cent of defendants whose cases reached a verdict are known
to have been found guilty during this period (see below).
A Magistrate's Court in Kurganinsk fined Aleksandr Chmykh, pastor of the
Kurganinsk Council of Churches Baptist church, 5,000 Roubles in March 2024
for having "organised and conducted worship services in Kurganinsk, by
which he violated the requirements of the [Religion Law], namely, he did
not submit in the established order notification of the beginning of the
activities of the religious group to the Justice Ministry". Five other
Baptists who participated in a two-day conference were also prosecuted (see
below).
Four women were among others prosecuted: a Roman Catholic from Zabaykalsk
Region who made posts in the VKontakte group of the "Sisters Servants of
the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Immaculate Conception" (a Catholic religious
congregation); a Muslim teacher who led prayers and Koranic studies for
girls in Stavropol; a Protestant pastor who put on an educational event
about Christmas at a cultural centre in Chukotka Region; and a Seventh-day
Adventist from the Mari El Republic (see below).
For a list of the 90 known prosecutions in the 2024 calendar year and 34
known prosecutions in the first four months of 2025, see forthcoming
F18News article.
Russian citizens found guilty of "unlawful missionary activity" are
prosecuted under Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 4, and can receive
fines of 5,000 to 50,000 Roubles. Foreign citizens can be fined 30,000 to
50,000 Roubles under Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 5. They may
also be expelled from the country. Registered organisations (also
prosecuted under Part 4) can be fined up to 100,000 Roubles (see below).
A fine of 50,000 Roubles represented two and a half weeks' average wages in
2024 for those in work or just over 10 weeks' average state retirement
pension (see below).
(Russia is also imposing these punishments
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
it has illegally occupied.)
Both Forum 18's figures, drawn from available court records, and the
Russian Supreme Court's figures (which are not disaggregated and include
cases under Parts 1-3 of Administrative Code Article 5.26) indicate an
increase in prosecutions in the last year.
Forum 18 has also found an increase in administrative expulsions of foreign
citizens. This may be difficult to track in the future, however, as
amendments to the Administrative Code, which came into force in February
2025, enable police to expel non-Russians in missionary-related cases
without needing to go to court (see below).
Forum 18 asked police and prosecutors in several regions why they had
brought charges of "unlawful missionary activity" against individuals who
had conducted worship services in places of worship or prayer rooms, or on
residential premises (freely permitted under the Religion Law) and where
only people who were already members of the community were present. Police
and prosecutors gave no explanation for this (see below).
The proportion of cases involving Muslims remains high, continuing a trend
Forum 18 first observed in 2019-2020. The activity for which most Muslims
are prosecuted under Administrative Code Article 5.26, Parts 4 and 5 is
simply conducting prayers on premises which are not officially designated
places of worship – such as workplaces, workers' hostels, or unregistered
prayer houses (see below).
Council of Churches Baptists, who do not seek state registration of their
communities, have also faced increasing rates of prosecution for "unlawful
missionary activity". Prosecutions are usually linked to the fact that they
do not submit notification to the authorities of the creation of a
religious group. In some cases, this has been used as partial grounds for
prosecutors to seek a ban on their activities (see below).
On 16 May 2025, bailiffs sealed a Baptist church in Kurganinsk (Krasnodar
Region) whose activities a court had prohibited in September 2024. Churches
in Belorechensk (also Krasnodar Region), Tula, and Blagoveshchensk are also
facing a similar ban on activities (see forthcoming F18News article).
Religious organisations also continue to face prosecution under
Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 3 ("Implementation of activities by
a religious organisation without indicating its official full name,
including the issuing or distribution, within the framework of missionary
activity, of literature and printed, audio, and video material without a
label bearing this name, or with an incomplete or deliberately false
label"). Religious organisations are prosecuted for not showing the
complete forms of their officially registered names
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
online, and most frequently on buildings.
Broadly defined "missionary activity"
On 6 July 2016, President Vladimir Putin signed amendments to the Religion
Law imposing tight restrictions on the sharing of beliefs, including on
where and by whom they may be shared. The amendments effectively ban
broadly defined "missionary activity" by anyone without written permission
from an officially recognised religious association, and apparently any
activity performed by religious organisations not using their full legal
names.
The amendments also prohibit "missionary activity" on residential premises,
or by anyone who is a former member of an "extremist" religious
organisation. They allow wide scope for arbitrary official actions.
The amendments were introduced as part of an "anti-terrorism" package
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
Russia Duma deputy Irina Yarovaya and Senator Viktor Ozerov. Protests
against the changes were widespread.
A 2015 amendment to the Religion Law required all unregistered religious
groups to notify the authorities (usually regional branches of the Justice
Ministry) of their existence and activities. This includes providing the
names and addresses of all their members, and addresses where any meeting
takes place. The written authorisation required by anyone conducting
missionary activity on behalf of a religious group includes "written
confirmation of receipt and registration of the notification of the
[group's] creation and commencement of activities" – the lack of such
notification is therefore often taken as evidence of unlawful missionary
activity", even if no group in fact exists.
This is despite a 15 October 2018 Constitutional Court ruling that failure
to submit notification of the existence of a religious group does not in
isolation constitute an offence under Article 5.26, Part 4 (see below).
Punishments
Individuals and legal entities who violate any of the July 2016
restrictions and requirements are subject to punishment under
Administrative Code Article 5.26:
- Part 3 ("Implementation of activities by a religious organisation without
indicating its official full name, including the issuing or distribution,
within the framework of missionary activity, of literature and printed,
audio, and video material without a label bearing this name, or with an
incomplete or deliberately false label");
- Part 4 ("Russians conducting missionary activity");
- or Part 5 ("Foreigners conducting missionary activity").
These were all signed into law at the same time.
Under Part 4 ("Russians conducting missionary activity"), Russian citizens
are liable for a fine of 5,000 to 50,000 Roubles. For organisations (legal
entities), the fine stands at 100,000 to 1 million Roubles. Religious
groups, while they may share their beliefs in limited circumstances, are
not legal entities – their members are therefore subject to prosecution
as individuals.
A fine of 50,000 Roubles represented two and a half weeks' average wages in
2024 for those in work or just over 10 weeks' average state retirement
pension.
Under Article 5.26, Part 5, foreign citizens may be fined 30,000 to 50,000
Roubles for the same offence as under Part 4, with the possibility of
expulsion from Russia.
Punishments under Part 3 ("Implementation of activities by a religious
organisation without indicating its official full name, including the
issuing or distribution, within the framework of missionary activity, of
literature and printed, audio, and video material without a label bearing
this name, or with an incomplete or deliberately false label") are a fine
of 30,000 to 50,000 Roubles and possible confiscation of any materials.
Prosecution under Article 5.26, Part 4 may have further consequences for
religious communities.
Constitutional Court interpretations of "missionary activity"
On 13 March 2018, the Constitutional Court issued an interpretation
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
norms in the "anti-missionary" legislation. "A defining feature
[sistemoobrazuyushchy priznak] of missionary activity", it declared, "is
the dissemination, by citizens and their associations, of information about
a specific religious belief among persons who, not being its followers, are
involved in their number, including as participants in specific religious
associations".
Distributing information – for example, about meetings for worship,
ceremonies, or events – therefore "falls under the definition of
missionary activity as such, only if it contains the said defining
feature".
The Constitutional Court concluded that establishing whether missionary
activity has been carried out requires "the identification of all the signs
of missionary activity specified in [the Religion Law]". If any is absent,
the religious activity "cannot qualify as missionary activity in the sense
of the [Religion Law], and therefore, even if it is committed in violation
of the requirements of the [Religion Law], it does not constitute an
offence as stipulated in Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 4".
The Constitutional Court has issued three further statements on Article
5.26, Part 4:
– on 15 October 2018, that failure to submit notification of the
existence of a religious group does not in isolation constitute an offence
under Part 4, and courts should take into account all the circumstances to
ascertain whether the Constitutional Court's definition of the "defining
feature" of missionary activity has been met (it is difficult to ascertain
whether this is having any effect on court decisions separately from the
Constitutional Court's March 2018 ruling);
– on 11 February 2021, that missionary activity may be conducted outside
the explicitly permitted locations listed in Religion Law Article 24.1
(which include places of worship (v kultovykh pomeshchaniyakh), other
buildings and land to which religious organisations have property rights,
cemeteries, and pilgrimage sites), as long as it complies with all the
requirements of Religion Law Article 24.2;
– and on 29 September 2022, that "the implementation by citizens (foreign
citizens, stateless persons) of missionary activity on behalf of a
religious group, in turn, testifies to the creation of such a group, the
legal existence of which presupposes notification of the beginning of its
activity"(see below).
While judges often explicitly acknowledge the Constitutional Court's
interpretations of Article 5.26 in their rulings, this rarely leads to
acquittal. Between January 2024 and April 2025, Forum 18 found only three
acquittals, all of which were based on the March 2018 clarification of
"missionary activity" (a judge sent a fourth case back to police on the
same basis).
Statistics
In an analysis of available court records, Forum 18 found a total of 124
prosecutions under Administrative Code Article 5.26, Parts 4 and 5 in the
calendar year 2024 and the first four months of 2025.
It is unknown how many other individuals and organisations may have faced
charges, as cases against Russian citizens and legal entities (which
comprise the vast majority) are heard in magistrates' courts, of which
there are 7,745 across the country, almost all of which are searchable only
individually. Establishing accurate figures is also difficult if religious
communities or their members do not themselves make prosecutions known.
Administrative Code amendments meaning that most Article 5.26, Part 5 cases
will be handled only by police, not courts, has also made the prosecution
of foreigners hard to track since February 2025 (see below).
Russia's Supreme Court releases the number of cases brought each year under
Article 5.26 as a whole, but does not disaggregate these figures, meaning
that they include prosecutions under Part 3 (which was introduced as part
of the 2016 anti-missionary amendment
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
punishes failure to display a religious organisation's official full name),
and Parts 1 and 2, (which respectively punish "Obstructing the exercise of
the right to freedom of conscience and religion" and "Deliberate public
desecration" of religious objects and symbols).
Nevertheless, lawyers and human rights commentators believe the Supreme
Court's figures broadly illustrate trends in Part 4 and 5 prosecutions.
Lawyer Anatoly Pchelintsev noted on his Telegram channel on 21 April that
the majority of cases enumerated by the Supreme Court will be
missionary-related, "as is shown by [legal] practice". Another lawyer with
experience of Article 5.26 prosecutions confirmed to Forum 18 on 29 May
that "Parts 1 and 2 are very rare, a few cases per year", and that Part 4
is the "most common".
The Supreme Court's figures for the last few years are:
2024 – 431, of which 294 received punishments;
2023 – 354, of which 228 received punishments;
2022 – 388, of which 238 received punishments;
2021 – 329, of which 201 received punishments;
2020 – 335, of which 217 received punishments.
Both the Supreme Court's and Forum 18's figures show an increase in
prosecutions in 2024.
Forum 18's review of available court records found 90 prosecutions in the
2024 calendar year (64 under Article 5.26, Part 4; 26 under Article 5.26,
Part 5). It found 34 in January to April 2025 (26 under Part 4; 9 under
Part 5). Six of these involved registered religious organisations, the
remainder individuals, one of whom was charged as an "official person"
(dolzhnostnoye litso) and punished more harshly than a private citizen (a
Moscow Region imam who was fined 30,000 Roubles for holding or allowing
prayers three times a day in two prayer houses, allegedly using
amplification).
Only four women appear to have been prosecuted in the cases Forum 18 found:
a Roman Catholic from Zabaykalsk Region who made posts in the VKontakte
group of the Sisters Servants of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Immaculate
Conception (a Catholic religious congregation); a Muslim teacher who led
prayers and Koranic studies for girls in Stavropol; a Protestant pastor who
put on an educational event about Christmas at a cultural centre in
Chukotka Region; and a Seventh-day Adventist from the Mari El Republic, the
details of whose two prosecutions are unknown.
A number of cases appear to be based on surveillance by the Federal
Security Service (FSB), which then informs prosecutors or police, who open
administrative cases against the people or communities involved. Other
cases may arise from police monitoring of religious communities' activities
or routine prosecutor's office "inspections of compliance with the
requirements" of the Religion Law and Extremism Law, or are triggered by
calls to police or prosecutors from members of the public.
Lawyer Sergey Chugunov described on his Telegram channel on 26 April 2022
(https://t.me/chugunovsv/22) a case in which the FSB's "operational
information", on which police based the prosecution, turned out to be a
community's entry in the list of churches on the Protestant.ru website,
which is drawn up without participation or knowledge of communities
themselves. "All that remains for the valiant law enforcement officers is
to go through the list of churches in their region, identify those who have
not registered an organisation or notified [the Justice Ministry] about a
group, and invite the violators to come in to draw up a protocol [of an
offence]," Chugunov wrote.
It is usually unclear from court decisions, however, how activities come to
the attention of investigative agencies, either because judges have not
included such information or because it has been redacted in publicly
available records.
Convictions remain high – appeals few and largely unsuccessful
With the caveat that it is not possible to give exact statistics because of
the difficulty in obtaining comprehensive and reliable data, the conviction
rate for prosecutions found by Forum 18 appears to have increased. Between
January 2024 and April 2025, first-instance courts convicted 108 defendants
and acquitted three. They sent a further 10 cases back to police or
prosecutors. Three cases were dismissed because they reached court after
the permitted three-month time period for administrative prosecutions had
passed (the statute of limitations).
This gives an initial conviction rate of 97.28 per cent for known cases
which reached a verdict, and 87.01 per cent overall. Between July 2020 and
December 2021, the conviction rate was 84.52 per cent for cases found by
Forum 18 which reached a verdict – for the period January 2019 to June
2020, this figure was 90.86 per cent; in 2018, 90 per cent; and in 2016-17,
82 per cent.
Defendants submitted initial appeals in 31 known cases. Of these, 25 were
unsuccessful and none was successful. The outcome of one appeal is as yet
unknown. One appeal was rejected without consideration because of a missing
signature and two for late submission. Two defendants succeeded in having
their sentences changed, although the guilty verdicts were upheld (these
were a Polish Catholic priest, ordered expelled from Russia under Article
5.26, Part 5, who managed to have his expulsion order overturned, and a
Russian Orthodox (Moscow Patriarchate) parish, whose offence under Article
5.26, Part 4 was deemed insignificant and whose fine was therefore waived).
Eleven defendants challenged their unsuccessful appeal rulings in the
cassational courts. So far, one of these cassational appeals has been
successful (because of the statute of limitations), one unsuccessful, and
two rejected without consideration. The remainder are yet to be considered.
Religious profile
A wide range of religious backgrounds continues to be represented in known
cases brought under Administrative Code Article 5.26, Parts 4 and 5.
Muslims form a strong plurality as they have done over the last few years.
Known prosecutions in the calendar year 2024 and the first four months of
2025 involved individuals or organisations belonging to the following
religious communities:
Muslim – 50 (35 in 2024, 15 in January to April 2025);
Council of Churches Baptists – 24 (16, 8);
Baptist Union – 4 (4, 0);
other Protestant – 7 (4, 3);
Society for Krishna Consciousness – 5 (4, 1);
Seventh-day Adventist – 2 (2, 0);
Roman Catholic – 3 (2, 1);
Armenian Catholic – 1 (1, 0);
Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) – 1 (1, 0);
Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church – 1 (1, 0);
independent Orthodox – 1 (1, 0);
Orthodox-linked commercial entity – 1 (1, 0);
Christian of unknown denomination – 1 (1, 0);
Unknown affiliation – 23 (18, 5).
Muslims appear to be particularly vulnerable to the continued tendency of
police and prosecutors to discern a "missionary" element even in ordinary
gatherings for worship involving only fellow believers. An increasing
number of raids on workplaces, hostels, and cultural centres by police
looking for illegal immigrants, particularly in Moscow, have also led to a
high number of Article 5.26, Part 5 prosecutions of Muslim migrant workers
(23 known cases out of 34 Part 5 cases found).
The comparatively large number of prosecutions of Council of Churches
Baptists derives mostly from an apparent increase in police and security
service attention towards these communities in Krasnodar Region. Krasnodar
Region saw 19 of the 24 cases involving people (mostly pastors) of this
denomination.
Geographical spread
Twenty-eight out of Russia's 83 federal subjects saw at least one known
prosecution under Article 5.26, Parts 4 and 5 in 2024 and the first four
months of 2025 (not counting Russian-annexed Ukrainian Regions).
The highest numbers of known prosecutions across this whole period were
found in: Krasnodar Region – 29; Moscow – 22; Stavropol Region – 14;
Tatarstan Republic – 12; Rostov Region – 5; Republic of Adygeya – 5.
The Krasnodar Region cases were derived from 19 investigations, including
the prosecution of six Baptist pastors over one event (see below). As well
as Council of Churches Baptists, Muslims, other Protestants, an Armenian
Catholic priest, and a Polish Roman Catholic priest (see forthcoming
F18News article) have also faced prosecution in this region.
"Due to proximity to the Caucasus, perhaps the fight against extremism is
being conducted more actively (at least on paper) [in Krasnodar Region],
and it is easiest to fight under Article 5.26," a Russian human rights
researcher commented to Forum 18 on 9 June. "And the personal attitude of
the security forces towards 'sectarians' must be taken into account.
Baptists are now being actively suppressed there."
"Krasnodar is a complex region and finding the truth is extremely
difficult," lawyer Anatoly Pchelintsev noted on Telegram on 27 January
2025.
Prosecutions lead to bans and church closures?
A single conviction of a religious community member under Article 5.26,
Part 4 ("Russians conducting missionary activity") alone is not grounds for
the dissolution of a religious association. Prosecutors or Justice Ministry
branches may, however, use it in conjunction with other legal violations
– or may use repeat convictions – as evidence in requesting the
liquidation of a registered religious organisation or the suspension of a
religious group.
This practice appears to have intensified in relation to Council of
Churches Baptist communities in 2024 and 2025. Courts have ordered the
suspension of activities of their churches in Kurganinsk and Belorechensk,
both in Krasnodar Region. Courts cited the prosecution of their pastors for
conducting "missionary activity" without notifying the Justice Ministry of
the creation of religious groups as partial grounds for the decisions.
Council of Churches Baptists do not register their communities as religious
organisations or submit notification of their existence as religious
groups, arguing that the Religion Law and the Constitution permit them to
meet for worship without state involvement.
Kurganinsk District Magistrate's Court No. 167 fined Aleksandr Chmykh,
pastor of the Kurganinsk church, 5,000 Roubles under Article 5.26, Part 4
on 18 March 2024 for having "organised and conducted worship services in
Kurganinsk, by which he violated the requirements of the [Religion Law],
namely, he did not submit in the established order notification of the
beginning of the activities of the religious group to the Justice
Ministry".
The worship services in questions were in fact a two-day conference of the
Caucasian Association of Council of Churches, according to the Council of
Churches-Baptists Intercession Department. Five other Baptists who
participated in the event were also prosecuted under Article 5.26, Part 4.
On 6 September 2024, Kurganinsk District Court upheld a lawsuit from
prosecutors seeking a ban on the activities of Chmykh's church until the
community submitted notification of its existence.
"In the building of the House of Prayer .. with the participation of
residents of [Krasnodar Region] and neighbouring regions, including minors
and missionaries and foreign citizens, illegal missionary religious events
are systematically held," prosecutors argued in court, according to the
written decision, seen by Forum 18.
The ban entered legal force upon its unsuccessful appeal at Krasnodar
Regional Court on 26 November 2024. The community continued its activities.
Pastor Chmykh received two further fines for "unlawful missionary activity"
on 10 February 2025.
After Chmykh again appealed unsuccessfully against the ban at the 4th
Cassational Court in Krasnodar on 7 May 2025, bailiffs sealed the church
building on 16 May 2025. The community has since met for worship in front
of its closed building.
Forum 18 wrote to Kurganinsk District Magistrate's Court No. 167 on 11
March to ask why it had found Pastor Chmykh guilty of "unlawful missionary
activity" when the events in question took place inside the church and only
fellow Baptists were present. Forum 18 had received no response by the end
of the working day of 16 June.
Forum 18 wrote to the Krasnodar Region branch of the Federal Security
Service (FSB), upon whose information prosecutors based their request to
ban the church's activities, on 7 March, asking why a church conference was
considered an "unauthorised mass event" when held inside the church itself,
and why it was considered "unlawful missionary activity" if only fellow
believers were present. Forum 18 had received no response by the end of the
working day of 16 June.
Forum 18 wrote to Kurganinsk District Court asking why it had upheld the
prosecutors' request to prohibit the church's activities, and seeking to
clarify whether the church would be able to resume operations if it submits
notification of its existence. The court press service responded on 17
March, ignoring Forum 18's first question but confirming that the court
decision suspended the church's activities "until the elimination of
violations by means of sending notification of the beginning of the
activities of a religious group to the Office of the Justice Ministry for
Krasnodar Region. After the elimination of violations, activity can be
resumed".
Article 5.26, Part 5: expulsion from Russia – now extrajudicial?
On 5 February 2025, amendments to several Articles of the Administrative
Code came into legal force. These remove Article 5.26, Part 5 ("Foreigners
conducting missionary activity") from the list of offences automatically
considered by a judge and transfer them largely to the jurisdiction of the
police and other Interior Ministry bodies, while adding the police to the
list of authorities able to impose administrative expulsion as punishment
for administrative offences (previously, only a judge could issue such an
order).
If a Part 5 case is initiated by "a body authorised to exercise functions
in the sphere of control (supervision) over the activities of non-profit
organisations", i.e. a branch of the Justice Ministry (vanishingly rare in
Part 5 cases), it will still be sent to court and considered by a judge.
If the police decide to have an individual expelled from Russia, there will
be no public court record of the case unless the person manages to lodge an
appeal.
Forum 18 has so far found only one example of the police extra-judicially
punishing a foreign citizen under Article 5.26, Part 5 after 5 February
2025, Muslim university student Samir Sharipov (see forthcoming F18News
article).
Out of 35 prosecutions under Article 5.26, Part 5 in 2024 and the first
four months of 2025, 32 resulted in guilty verdicts, 18 of which are known
to have included administrative expulsion from Russia (some punishments are
unknown). This appears to represent an increase on previous years.
Most Part 5 cases involve Muslims who appear to be migrant workers from
Central Asian countries – they are mostly prosecuted for praying in their
workplaces (despite often having their employers' support) or in hostel
accommodation.
Forum 18 found Part 5 cases involving citizens of the following countries:
Tajikistan – 7; Uzbekistan – 7; Poland – 2; Kyrgyzstan – 1; Armenia
– 1; Ireland – 1. In 16 court rulings, defendants' citizenship was
redacted, but the majority of these also appear to come from Central Asia.
Persistent lack of clarity over what constitutes missionary activity
Despite the Constitutional Court's attempts to clarify the law and the ways
in which it should be applied, police and prosecutors continue to open
cases against individuals and their communities for a wide range of
activities, and judges continue to find them guilty.
Common grounds for prosecution include a lack of written authorisation from
a religious organisation or group to carry out missionary activity on its
behalf. This assumes, firstly, that everyone carrying out missionary
activity must be representing a formally constituted religious association,
rather than simply sharing their own beliefs (many defendants appear not to
be members of any association); and secondly, that any activity which
individuals might perform on behalf of (or merely in connection with) their
religious communities is inherently "missionary".
The Religion Law states that missionary activity may be freely carried out
in places of worship (v kultovykh pomeshcheniyakh), but is prohibited on
residential premises "except in cases provided for by Article 16 Part 2" of
the Religion Law, according to which "Religious services and other
religious rites and ceremonies" may freely take place on residential
premises.
Police and prosecutors often a) interpret simply meeting for worship as
"missionary activity", and b) do not treat residential or commercial
premises as "places of worship" (even if communities or individuals have
formal permission from their owners to use them for worship meetings).
(Because of the difficulties some religious communities encounter in
building, buying, or renting their own spaces for worship, they often have
to meet on premises which are technically designated residential or
commercial. This can also lead to prosecution under Administrative Code
Article 8.8, Part 1 ("The use of a land plot not for its intended purpose
in accordance with its belonging to a particular land category and/or
authorised use").)
– on 27 May 2024, Neklinovsky District Magistrate's Court No. 2 (Rostov
Region) fined Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church priest Hieromonk Dionisiy
(Dmitry Belolipetsky) 5,000 Roubles under Article 5.26, Part 4 for having
"disseminated his beliefs among persons who are not members of the
religious association" at a service "where participants sang religious
hymns, read the Bible, prayed" at the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and
Paul in Sovetka village, without written authorisation from the religious
association to perform missionary activity on its behalf;
(Belolipetsky's predecessor Archimandrite Artyomy (Aleksandr) Smitchenko,
who died in 2022, was also fined
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
Part 4 by the same court in December 2020 for identical reasons.)
Forum 18 wrote to Rostov Regional Prosecutor's Office and the Magistrate's
Court on 5 June 2025, asking why Belolipetsky had been prosecuted for
simply leading worship in his own church, when this does not have the
defining feature of missionary activity as set out by the Constitutional
Court in March 2018. Forum 18 had received no response by the end of the
working day in Rostov Region of 16 June.
– on 2 July 2024, Sterlitamak Magistrate's Court No. 3 (Republic of
Bashkortostan) fined Council of Churches Baptist pastor Oleg Alekseyev
5,000 Roubles under Article 5.26, Part 4 for holding a worship service in
his own home "with the participation of a person who is not a member of the
group", without written authorisation from the religious group to carry out
missionary activity and without having notified the Justice Ministry of the
group's existence. Police had videoed the service during an inspection of
"implementation of legislation on countering extremist activity". The
prosecutor argued that the fact a police officer could freely enter the
house and participate in the service is evidence of missionary activity.
Pastor Alekseyev appealed unsuccessfully at Sterlitamak City Court on 12
August 2024.
Forum 18 wrote to the Republic of Bashkortostan Prosecutor's Office and the
Magistrate's Court on 6 June 2025 asking why Pastor Alekseyev had been
prosecuted for simply leading worship in his own church, when this does not
have the defining feature of missionary activity as set out by the
Constitutional Court in March 2018. Forum 18 had received no response from
either by the end of the working day of 16 June.
– 1 August 2024, Aleksin Inter-District Court (Tula Region) fined Kyrgyz
citizen Okhunzhon Isabayev 35,000 Roubles under Article 5.26, Part 5 for
leading Muslim prayers "without documents on state registration", in a
prayer room he had equipped with carpets, a clock, and religious
literature. Isabayev's company had provided the prayer room in an
administrative building at the request of Muslim employees. The judge noted
Isabayev's employer's positive character reference, his legal migration
status, and his lack of previous offences in deciding not to expel him from
Russia.
Forum 18 wrote to Tula Region Prosecutor's Office and Tula Region's Unified
Court Press Service on 6 June, asking why Isabayev had been prosecuted for
simply leading prayers, when this does not have the defining feature of
missionary activity as set out by the Constitutional Court in March 2018.
Olga Dyachuk, head of the Unified Court Press Service, responded on 11
June, directing Forum 18 to the written verdict on the court website. Forum
18 had received no response from the Prosecutor's Office by the end of the
working day of 16 June.
"Missionary" prosecutions effectively prosecution for failure to notify
Another common reason for prosecution for "missionary activity" under
Article 5.26, Part 4 or 5 is the failure to submit notification to a
regional branch of the Justice Ministry of the existence of a religious
group. This is cited in the verdicts of 31 cases found by Forum 18 between
January 2024 and April 2025.
Failure to notify does not constitute a specific offence, although it can
be prosecuted under Administrative Code Article 19.5 ("Failure to comply
with a legal order (resolution, submission, decision) of a body (official)
exercising state supervision (control)". Legislators in Bashkortostan
proposed amendments to the federal Religion Law in 2016, which would have
a) clarified the requirement for religious groups to submit notification,
and b) introduced fines for non-compliance. The State Duma eventually
rejected this on 8 February 2023.
Cherlak District Magistrate's Court No. 105 (Omsk Region) fined Council of
Churches Baptist pastor German Adrian 5,000 Roubles on 26 January 2024 for
leading worship in his own house. The judge concluded that Adrian had
disseminated "information about the doctrine of 'Christianity' of this
group among persons who are not members of this religious group, with the
purpose of involving these persons in the religious group, [and] conducted
ceremonies and services on the premises of his home among persons who are
not members of the religious group, by appealing to their consciousness,
will, [and] feelings, including by disclosure .. of his own religious views
and convictions, without observing the notification procedure for the
activities of this religious group".
Pastor Adrian appealed unsuccessfully at Cherlak District Court on 24
February 2024 and the 8th Cassational Court in Kemerovo on 25 April 2024.
Forum 18 wrote to the Omsk Region Interior Ministry and Magistrate's Court
No. 105 on 6 June to ask why Adrian had been prosecuted simply for
conducting worship without submitting notification to the Justice Ministry,
given that, firstly, this lacks the defining feature of "missionary
activity" as set out by the Constitutional Court, and secondly, that
failure to notify should not in itself constitute an offence. Forum 18 had
received no response from either by the end of the working day in Omsk
Region of 16 June.
The Religion Law does not set out a specific process for the creation of a
religious group. After a court banned their community's activities
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
submitted notification and subsequently carried out "unlawful missionary
activity", Council of Churches Baptists in Anapa appealed to the
Constitutional Court in 2022 to clarify this. The Constitutional Court
refused to consider the appeal.
The Court stated in its 29 September 2022 ruling that "the implementation
by citizens (foreign citizens, stateless persons) of missionary activity on
behalf of a religious group, in turn testifies to the creation of such a
group, the legal existence of which presupposes notification of the
beginning of its activity".
"In my opinion, such an approach can only mean that the problem we raised
will not be addressed", the Baptists' lawyer Sergey Chugunov commented on
his Telegram channel (https://t.me/chugunovsv/87) after the ruling on 3
November 2022. "The uncertainty of the law is obviously beneficial to law
enforcement."
"Citizens have the right to practice religion together without creating
religious associations," Chugunov noted on 18 May 2025
(https://t.me/chugunovsv/404). "If citizens say that they have not created
any group, then this is their legal right. To prove the opposite, criteria
prescribed by law are needed. Without such criteria, all decisions to
prohibit citizens from gathering contradict current legislation and the
Constitution of the Russian Federation."
Chugunov believes that the situation is being left deliberately ambiguous.
"Because if criteria for creating religious groups are prescribed, this
will clearly distinguish this right from the right to gather without
creating associations," he notes. "Thus, emphasising and confirming the
right to gather without creating anything. After this, creating a group
will be a pointless exercise, because [being] a group does not grant any
additional rights. Why is it needed at all? It seems that someone does not
want such a result." (END)
More reports on freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Russia
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
For background information see Forum 18's Russia religious freedom survey
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
Forum 18's compilation of Organisation for Security and Co-operation in
Europe (OSCE) freedom of religion or belief commitments
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
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