Russian police invade Baptist churches in occupied Ukraine

Russian police have raided churches in occupied Ukraine, issuing fines and other punishments for alleged ‘illegal activity’. Please hold these believers and their churches in your prayers.

Russian police, along with anti-extremism police, have raided Council of Churches Baptist worship meetings in occupied Ukraine. They raided one church on 8 June in Krasnodon, and another on 10 August in Sverdlovsk.  

The Russian occupation authorities continue to raid places of worship, particularly those of the Council of Churches Baptists. This is because their congregations choose not to seek official registration in any country where they operate. They also refuse to notify the authorities of the start of their activity. Russian officials therefore claim that their exercise of freedom of religion or belief – including meeting for worship or sharing their faith – is illegal. 

Unregistered churches raided and fined  

In Russian-occupied Luhansk Region, officials raided the Council of Churches Baptist congregation in Krasnodon (its official Ukrainian name is Sorokyne) on 8 June as they were celebrating Pentecost. On 14 July, the Russian-controlled Krasnodon Town Court found Pastor Vladimir Rytikov guilty of ‘missionary activity’ for leading his unregistered church, and fined him more than a month’s wages, even though Pastor Rytikov is a pensioner. 

Pastor Rytikov appealed against the fine. On 29 August, however, the appeal left the punishment unchanged. “The accusations were mainly for refusing to register,” Pastor Rytikov wrote after the hearing. 

Local Baptists describe the accusation – that the church had not notified the Russian authorities of the start of its activity as a religious group – as ‘baseless’. They point out that Russia’s 1997 Religion Law ‘makes no connection between the possibility of holding services, religious rites and ceremonies with the action of founding a religious association or submitting notification to the justice agencies’. 

Then on 10 August, Russian police and anti-extremism police raided the Sunday morning worship at the Council of Churches Baptist congregation in Sverdlovsk (its official Ukrainian name is Dovzhansk). Officers filmed those present. 

When the church finished its worship service, police officers searched the home where the church meets. Police told church members they had a search warrant approved by a court as officials suspected the church had weapons. Officers also photographed religious literature they found in the church. 

Individuals fined for ‘missionary activity’ 

Oksana Volyanskaya was fined a week’s wages on 30 June by the Russian-controlled Starobesheve District Court in Russian-occupied Donetsk Region. The judge also ordered the destruction of her religious books. 

Four other courts in Donetsk Region are known to have fined individuals for ‘missionary activity’ between 9 July and 6 August. 

In the same region, two Protestant churches with Russian registration were punished in June for failing to use their full, official name either on their building or on their literature. A Donetsk court had earlier punished a local Jewish and a local Catholic community on the same charges. 

UN speaks out against violation of rights 

Russia illegally occupies about a fifth of Ukraine’s territory and continues to violate rights to freedom of religion or belief in these regions. 

Among such violations are: 

• illegal annexation of territory and imposition of Russian law, violating human rights 
• pressuring, kidnapping, torturing, jailing and murdering religious leaders 
• stopping meetings for worship, banning and closing religious communities 
• jailing prisoners of conscience for exercising freedom of religion or belief 
• banning religious texts and purging libraries 
• ‘anti-missionary’ prosecutions 
• broadcasting disinformation against religious communities and believers. 

In a May report to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHCR) on human rights in the occupied territories of Ukraine, UN Secretary-General António Guterres repeated earlier UN calls for Russia to respect freedom of religion or belief.  

“The occupying authorities of the Russian Federation continued to restrict the right to freedom of religion and belief for certain religious communities in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine,” he declared. “No individual should be criminally charged or detained simply for practising their religion, including in the forms of collective worship and proselytising, in accordance with international human rights law. Religious groups in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine should enjoy access to their places of worship and be able to gather freely for prayer and other religious practices.”