Russian Baptists continue to meet after building sealed

The Russian Supreme Court in Moscow is scheduled Aug. 28 to hear the appeal of an unregistered Baptist church in Kurganinsk whose building was sealed by government officials in May.

In response to a court order issued last October, bailiffs sealed the building on May 16 and denied members access to the Council of Churches Baptist “house of prayer” unless the church submitted to state registration.

However, three months after authorities sealed the building, Baptists continue to meet outside their facility to pray and worship, an Oslo-based news service focused on international human rights and religious freedom reported.

Forum 18 quoted a Baptist in Kurganinsk who “witnessed church members young and old praying on their knees, right on the pavement” outside the building.

Judge Vitaly Yakonov asserted religious activities by the Council of Churches Baptist community in Kurganinsk created “a threat to the security of public interests, national security [and] public order, as well as the rights and interests of an undefined circle of persons involved in the activities of the group through illegal missionary activity,” Forum 18 reported.

Pastor Aleksandr Chmykh unsuccessfully appealed the October judicial ruling both in regional court in November and at the 4th Cessational Court in Krasnodar in May.

Baptists in Kurganinsk continued to meet for worship services and other gatherings, prompting bailiffs to fine the pastor 50,000 rubles for failing to fulfill the court’s demands.

Courts impose prohibitions on religious activity

Russian courts have imposed similar prohibitions on several other Council of Churches Baptist communities, and prosecutors are seeking to bar religious gatherings by at least three other congregations, according to Forum 18.

In the last 20 months, five unregistered Baptist churches in Russia—mostly in the Krasnodar region—have faced lawsuits or had their activities prohibited by authorities, the news service reported.

Council of Churches Baptists formed in the 1960s in opposition to Soviet religious restrictions, such as government regulation of sermon content, pastoral appointments and religious instruction of children.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Council of Churches Baptist—numbering about 2,500 congregations—have asserted the Russian Constitution, the 1997 Religion Law and international human rights law provide them the right to meet for worship without government involvement and state registration.

Council of Churches Baptist congregations often meet in private homes—or houses of prayer—on private land.

Alleged ‘illegal missionary activities’

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom cited the government’s closing of the Baptist house of prayer in Kurganinsk for alleged “illegal missionary activities” in its July report, “Russia’s Persecution of Religious Groups and FoRB Actors.”

Russian authorities continue to perpetrate “particularly severe violations of religious freedom against a range of religious groups and freedom of religion or belief actors,” the commission report said. Violations cited include closing houses of worship, as well as assaulting, arresting and even torturing religious leaders.

Russian courts in 2024 considered 431 cases of religion law violations—many related to alleged “illegal missionary activities”—resulting in fines totaling more than 4.7 million rubles (more than $58,000), the report said.

Since 2017, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has recommended Russia be named a Country of Particular Concern for engaging in “systematic, ongoing and egregious” religious freedom violations. The U.S. Department of State designated Russia as a Country of Particular Concern in 2021, 2022 and 2023.

In its latest annual report, the commission not only urged the State Department to continue to designate Russia as a Country of Particular Concern, but also impose targeted sanctions on Russian government agencies and officials responsible for religious freedom violations.