Russian authorities continue to target Christians with legal action based on links to foreign organizations, according to rights group Forum 18.
Recent reports document court fines against two pastors in the city of Vladimir, an archbishop in St. Petersburg and a freedom of religion researcher outside Moscow.
Smolny District Court fined Archbishop Grigory Mikhnov-Vaytenko on Sept. 22. The archbishop, who opposes his country’s war on Ukraine, reposted a YouTube video interview on Telegram that he gave on Nov. 5, 2022, to news outlet Novaya Gazeta Europe. In the interview, titled “Grigory Mikhnov-Vaytenko on anti-humanity, faith, and helping refugees,” he discussed assistance provided to Ukrainians who fled into Russia.
Novaya Gazeta Europe operates as an offshoot of the independent rights newspaper Novaya Gazeta, which Russian authorities closed this week.
Reuters reported that the 30-year-old newspaper closed its Moscow editorial office on Monday (Nov. 9) after the Justice Ministry added the publication to its list of “foreign agents” the prior month.
Throughout its operation, Novaya Gazeta reported violations of legal freedoms, including state actions against Christians under the 2016 “Yarovaya Package” federal anti-terrorism and surveillance laws. Those statutes expanded state surveillance powers and restricted civil liberties, including unauthorized missionary activity and private home worship.
The newspaper also reported on local prosecutions, fines, and property confiscations that targeted Baptists, Pentecostals, Seventh-day Adventists, and other Protestant congregations.
In the case against Mikhnov-Vaytenko, Judge Yekaterina Mezentseva fined the archbishop 5,000 rubles ($61) for breaching Administrative Code Article 20.33, which penalizes “participation in the activities of a foreign or international organization whose activities have been declared undesirable.” The archbishop lodged an appeal, which the district court registered on Oct. 27, according to Forum 18.
“The court (along with the St. Petersburg Central District Prosecutor’s Office) was placed in an impossible position in which even imposing a fine of 5,000 rubles looked like an act of defiance,” Mikhnov-Vaytenko wrote on his Telegram channel on Sept. 23. “The problem is that the materials from the operational-investigative activities were provided to the prosecutor’s office by none other than the ‘Second Service of the FSB’ [Federal Security Service], a ‘fearsome beast’ to which no one in our Russian land dares to object. But I object!”
Mikhnov-Vaytenko leads the Apostolic Orthodox Church, which Gleb Yakunin founded in 2000. The Moscow Patriarchate defrocked and excommunicated Yakunin after he published information documenting Soviet-era links between church leadership and the KGB, Forum 18 reported. The Justice Ministry designated his successor Mikhnov-Vaytenko a “foreign agent” in July 2024.
The Federal Security Service told St. Petersburg’s Central District Prosecutor’s Office on March 20 that Mikhnov-Vaytenko had reposted the Novaya Gazeta Europe interview.
“In this way, G. A. Mikhnov-Vaytenko disseminated material of the foreign organization BDR Novaja Gazeta-Europe...(Latvian Republic), the activity of which has been deemed undesirable on the territory of the Russian Federation, by which means participation in this organization’s activity was effected,” stated the resolution initiating the prosecution, Forum 18 reported.
In Vladimir Region, Russia’s Justice Ministry listed Mission Eurasia as an “undesirable organization” after a September ruling by the General Prosecutor’s Office. Two church pastors in the city of Vladimir paid fines for owning literature from the U.S.-based Christian mission.
State prosecutors inspected the pastors’ church buildings in Vladimir on July 1 and opened cases against both church leaders. Baptist pastor Andrey Butorin and Chapel at Golgotha Protestant church pastor Roman Usmanov faced charges under Administrative Code Article 20.33.
Lenin District Court fined each pastor 20,000 rubles ($242) on Sept. 29 and Sept. 30, an amount equal to roughly 10 days of an average local wage.
During the inspection of the Chapel at Golgotha Protestant church, inspectors found 81 copies of a book titled “How to Tell Children About the Gospel,” alongside six copies of booklets titled “New Testament” and multiple copies of “Forgiveness, Love, Word, Peace, Life, God, Truth,” all published by Mission Eurasia.
Pastor Usmanov pleaded guilty in court and stated that he knew about Mission Eurasia’s designation as an “undesirable organization.” Church workers “had placed the literature in question in a box with the intention of disposing of it. However, some copies remained accessible to the public,” Pastor Usmanov told Forum 18.
Judge Anna Ryzhkova said in the ruling, “Although aware of the decision made by the General Prosecutor’s Office, and despite having the opportunity to comply with the rules and regulations, the violation of which entails administrative liability, Usmanov failed to take all measures within his power to ensure such compliance.”
Ryzhkova noted Pastor Usmanov’s expression of remorse and his support of three underage children as mitigating factors.
Pastor Butorin also admitted guilt in a separate hearing but denied knowing that the state had placed Mission Eurasia on the register of “undesirable organizations.”
Prosecutors inspected Pastor Butorin’s church over a two-hour period and discovered a book titled “False Links in the Great Chain” and 10 booklets titled “The Gospel According to John.” Court records from the Sept. 30 decision show that inspectors found all of these items “freely accessible” in the church’s library.
Judge Irina Piskunova noted Pastor Butorin’s remorse as a mitigating factor.
Neither Pastor Butorin nor Pastor Usmanov appealed the court decisions.
Forum 18 wrote to the Vladimir City Prosecutor’s Office and Lenin District Court on Oct. 23 asking whether officials planned to destroy the seized literature, but officials did not respond.
In Moscow Region, Naro-Fominsk City Court convicted researcher Olga Sibiryova on Sept. 10 under Article 20.33. Sibiryova worked for 16 years at the Sova Centre for Information and Analysis in Moscow, focusing her research on freedom of religion and belief.
The court fined her 15,000 rubles ($180), equal to one week’s wage and the maximum punishment under the statute. Sibiryova left Russia before the court hearing, and her attorney appealed the fine to the Moscow Regional Court on Oct. 26.
Forum 18 reported that prosecutors based the “participation” charge on claims that the International Religious Freedom or Belief Alliance (IRFBA), the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, and other unnamed organizations referenced the researcher’s reports within a vaguely defined “transnational information infrastructure.”
The Sova Centre called the charge “completely false” in an official statement. The organization stated that prosecutors cited “expert analysis” but failed to produce a single instance in which IRFBA actually used publications by Sibiryova or the Sova Centre.
“The ruling initiating the case indicated that her ‘participation in the activities’ of IRFBA consisted merely of the fact that the alliance had made use of Sibiryova’s publications,” Sova noted on Sept. 10. “This appears to be the first time such a surprising interpretation of the offense defined in Article 20.33 has been encountered.
“We maintain that a person cannot be charged with an offense solely on the basis of actions taken by another party without their consent or coordination. Neither Sibiryova herself nor the Sova Centre as a whole has ever had any contact with IRFBA.”
Forum 18 asked political scientist Mikhail Bezborodov of Petrozavodsk State University about the “expert analysis” he prepared for the prosecution against Sibiryova. He did not respond. The Naro-Fominsk Prosecutor’s Office and Moscow Regional Prosecutor’s Office also did not respond to Forum 18.
Russia’s Justice Ministry added the Sova Centre to its register of “foreign agents” in 2016 and legally liquidated the organization in 2023. The organization now operates as an unregistered group of researchers.
