Legal framework on freedom of religion and actual application
The Russian constitution of 12 December 1993 declares in articles 14 and 28 that the Russian Federation is a secular state which guarantees freedom of religion or belief. Article 14 (1) states: “The Russian Federation shall be a secular state. No religion may be established as the State religion or as obligatory.” Article 14 (2) says: “Religious associations shall be separate from the State and shall be equal before the law.” Article 28 states: “Everyone shall be guaranteed freedom of conscience and religion, including the right to profess individually or collectively any religion or not to profess any religion, and freely to choose, possess and disseminate religious and other convictions and act in accordance with them.”
Article 19 (2) guarantees the equality of human and civil rights and freedoms regardless of religion or beliefs adding “all forms of limitations of human rights on social, racial, national, linguistic or religious grounds shall be prohibited”.
Art 13 (5) and art. 29 (2) ban the promotion of hostility based on four different grounds. Art 13 (5) says: “instigating social, racial, national and religious strife shall be prohibited”. Art 29 (2) states that “propaganda or agitation which arouses social, racial, national or religious hatred and hostility shall be prohibited” and that propagating supremacy is forbidden on the same grounds.
Article 30 (1) asserts that “everyone shall have the right to association”.
Art. 59 (3) grants the right to conscientious objection in the case of military service. It states: “In the event that their convictions or religious beliefs run counter to military service and in other cases established by federal law, citizens of the Russian Federation shall have the right to replace it with alternative civilian service”.
In January 2020, changes to the 1993 constitution were proposed, confirmed by Russia's parliament, and to confer public legitimacy, a referendum was called enabling Russian voters to approve the constitutional changes. According to Russia's Central Election Commission, on July 1 2021, with a turnout of 65 percent of eligible voters, the results indicated that 78 percent voted in favour. Amidst a package of more than two hundred changes, an amendment notes Russia’s ancestral history and the “ideals and faith in God” passed on by the country’s ancestors. It is the only explicit reference to God in the constitution and according to a Constitutional Court ruling, the reference to God contravenes neither the government’s secular nature nor freedom of religion but underscores the “sociocultural role of religion in the formation and development of the nation”.
Amongst further constitutional changes is the recognition of the Russian Federation as the successor of the Soviet Union: “The Russian Federation is the legal successor of the Union of SSR within its territory, and a legal successor (legal continuator) of the Union of SSR as regards membership in international organisations and their bodies, participation in international treaties, and as regards obligations of the Union of SSR foreseen by international treaties and its active assets outside the territory of the Russian Federation” (Art. 671(1)). The statement supposes not only a legal succession (including the territory of the former Soviet Union), but also, in the second paragraph, that the Russian Federation recognizes itself as a continuator of the thousand-year-old tradition of Holy Rus: “The Russian Federation, united by the millennium history, preserving the memory of the ancestors who conveyed to us ideals and belief in God, as well as continuity of development of the Russian state, recognises the unanimity of the State that was established historically” irreversible. (Art. 671(2)).
The 1997 Law on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Association (with amendments in 2019 and 2021) serves as the main pillar of the religious legislation.
In the preamble, the individual right to freedom of conscience, freedom of religious profession and equality before the law irrespective of religious affiliation and convictions are confirmed. But concerning religions, the law recognizes four “traditional religions” (Christianity [means: the Russian Orthodox Church], Islam, Judaism and Buddhism). For practical purposes, the Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran Church are generally treated as traditional Russian religions, being invited to participate in official events. The law stresses the special role of the Russian Orthodox Church because of her historical contribution to the country’s spirituality and culture.
The law establishes three different categories of religious entities: Religious Groups (RGs), Local Religious Organizations (LROs) and Centralized Religious Organizations (CROs) (art. 6).
De facto religious groups (RGs) have the right to conduct religious rituals and ceremonies, hold worship services, and teach religious doctrines. They are not registered with the government and have therefore no legal personality. Nevertheless, when a group first starts its activities, it must notify local authorities. The group cannot open a bank account, build, buy or rent premises or publish or import religious material, receive tax benefits, or deliver worship services in prisons, state-owned hospitals, or the armed forces (art 7).
To be recognized as a Local Religious Organization (LRO), a religious group must consist of no less than 10 persons over the age of 18 that permanently reside in a given area. It is registered at both the federal and the local level. An LRO can open a bank account, buy and own or rent buildings for religious purposes, acquire, import, export and disseminate religious literature, enjoy tax and other benefits, conduct worship services in prisons, hospitals, and armed forces, and so on.
Centralized Religious Organizations (CROs) must consist of no less than three LROs to be eligible for registration. They enjoy the same rights as LROs. After 50 years of existence and activity in the country, they can include the word ‘Russia(n)’ in their official title (art. 8 (5)). Additionally, they can also create local religious organizations as affiliates without any waiting period.
Registration of an LRO or CRO requires an association to provide: “a list of the organization’s founders and governing body, with addresses and passport information; the organization’s charter; the minutes of the founding meeting; certification from the CRO (in the case of LROs); a description of the organization’s doctrine, practices, history, and attitudes towards family, marriage, and education; the organization’s legal address; a certificate of payment of government dues; and a charter or registration papers of the governing body in the case of organizations whose main offices are located abroad”.
Before an official chaplain for a specific religious group can be appointed, the Ministry of Defense requires that members of this religious group should comprise at least 10 percent of a military unit.
On June 6, 2016, the 1997 Law was amended by the so called Yarovaya Package (374-FZ and 375-FZ). Deputy Irina Yarovaya together with Senator Victor Ozerov introduced a project of counter-extremism and counter-terrorism legislation. In Russia, the threat of extremism and terrorism is real. This is due to two facts, the attempts to radicalize the Russian Muslim community from the outside, and the Russian policy in armed conflicts, notably in Chechnya, Georgia, Ukraine, and Syria. Nevertheless, this real threat is often a pretext for actions that aim to strengthen the security of governing power and ensure social stability by limiting civil liberties and more intense supervision. As part of the Russian “securitization” policy, the competence of special services is expanded almost every year, efforts are being made to “counteract information aggression by the West”. A 2017-2030 Strategy for the Development of an Information Society in the Russian Federation adopted in 2017 shows that ensuring security is not the only political goal. The document also emphasizes “traditional Russian spiritual and moral values and the observance of [corresponding] behavioral norms in the use of information and communication technologies”. The Russian concept of security covers both material security and cultural security associated with the permanence of Orthodoxy. For this reason, “foreign” religious groups, even if they present no threat in material terms, are seen as representatives of a foreign, sometimes hostile culture.
The Yarovaya amendments increased restrictions for religion under anti-extremism laws. Under these amendments, “missionary activities” have been redefined to forbid preaching, praying, disseminating materials, and answering questions about religion outside designated locations, especially in residential premises (art. 24 (1) (2-3)). Any missionary activity on the premises, in buildings and structures belonging to another religious association, as well as on the land on which such buildings and structures are located, is prohibited without the written consent of the governing body of the respective religious association (art. 24 (1) (4)). In another amendment, a bureaucratic missionary procedure is established (art. 24 (2) (3-5)) in which Russians must obtain a government permit through a registered religious organization to share their beliefs and missionary activities. Such restrictions also apply to activities in private residences and online (art 24 (1) (1)). In addition, to teach the Gospel on the street or to pray collectively in private houses, a common practice for many Protestant denominations, is generally forbidden.
There also are restrictions on religious activities undertaken by foreigners. The Yarovaya Law states that foreign missionaries must prove that they have been invited by a state-registered religious organization and may only operate in regions where their organizations are registered (art 24 (2) (3-4)). People found guilty of violating the anti-extremism law face fines of up to US$780 for an individual, and up to US$15,500 for a group or organization. Foreign nationals also may be deported. For more details to the Yarovaya Law, please consider the ACN 2021 Religious Freedom in the World Report.
On 5 April 2021, President Vladimir Putin signed amendments to the 1997 Law on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Association, requiring Russian certification of clergy and religious personnel educated in foreign educational organizations to undergo additional professional programs (including training “in the field of the basics of state-confessional relations”), to prohibit the leadership of religious groups by those deemed to be extremists or terrorists, and to impose more frequent reporting. As expressed by Sergey Gavrilov, head of the State Duma's Committee for the Development of Civil Society and Issues of Public and Religious Associations, the requirement for extra training and re-certification of foreign-educated clergy is “aimed at protecting the spiritual sovereignty of Russia”.
Blasphemy law
On 29 June 2013, a so-called blasphemy law was enacted criminalizing activities aimed at insulting the religious feelings of believers. Article 148 of the Criminal Code provides for a fine, or up to one year of imprisonment, or forced labor, for “actions demonstrating disrespect to the society if performed with the purpose of insulting religious feelings of believers”. “Insulting religious feelings” had previously been punished by a rarely used Administrative Code Article 5.26. When the offence was criminalized in July 2013, this article was amended to cover “deliberate public desecration of religious or liturgical literature, objects of religious veneration, signs or emblems of ideological symbols and paraphernalia, or their damage or destruction”. The associated penalties increased from a fine of 500 to 1000 rubles to 30 to 50 thousand rubles or obligatory work up to 120 hours, and for officials - from 100,000 to 200,000 rubles (2020 figures).
According to a Report prepared by the Global Legal Research Center, most blasphemy-related cases are prosecuted under Article 282 of the Criminal Code, which bans “actions aimed at inciting hatred [or] enmity or diminishing the dignity of a person or a group of people because of their religion, [that are] conducted publicly, or using mass media, or the Internet.” These actions can be prosecuted by varied fines, compulsory labor, bans on specific professional activities, or imprisonment for a term of two to five years.
Other laws
The Federal Law on Combating Extremist Activity adopted on 25 July 2002, grants the authorities the power to censor religious freedom and expression, and to criminalize a broad spectrum of religious activities. Article 13 of this law provides for the establishment of a federal list of banned extremist materials. Since any court may add materials to the federal list, a judicial ban on a particular item in one city or region on the grounds that it has been found “extremist” can be enforced across the country. At the beginning of 2020, there were 5,018 items on the Federal List of Extremist Materials maintained by the Ministry of Justice. Due to the breadth and addition of materials classified as extremist, one can suggest that there is a chilling effect as virtually any speech can be prosecuted.
Incidents
Compared with 228 persons in all of 2020, as of November 2021, the human rights NGO Memorial identified 340 persons as persecuted for their religious beliefs.
In the first six months of 2021, among other incidents of religiously motivated vandalism, the SOVA Center reported seven incidents of vandalism at religious sites – two Orthodox, two Jewish, two pagan, and one Protestant.
On 15 November 2021, the U.S. State Department recognized Russia as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) under the Factsheet on International Religious Freedom Act “for its systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom”. Russia's inclusion on this list has been recommended by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom every year since 2017.
Most violations of religious freedom occur against individuals accused of participating in activities of banned religious groups. The number of these considered “terrorist”, “extremist”, or “non-traditional” is considerable. Among Muslim groups identified as terrorist are the Turkish Islamic Said Nursi, the pan Islamist movement Hizb ut-Tahir, Tajikistan’s Islamic Renaissance Party, and India’s Tablighi Jamaat; groups like Jehovah's Witnesses, Falun Gong and the Church of Scientology are outlawed for extremism, and some forbidden “undesirable organizations” include evangelical churches targeted for proselytism on the grounds that they contravene the anti-missionary Yarovaya laws.
Among those designated as a terrorist organization is the Hizb ut-Tahrir group. According to a some western governments, Hizb ut-Tahrir is characterised as one that aims to establish an Islamic caliphate, but which renounces violence. The Counter Extremism Project, however, suggests that although its stated goal is to peacefully convert Muslim nations to Islamist political systems, that “Hizb ut-Tahrir members have been linked to violent acts in multiple countries”. The group was banned in Russia by the Supreme Court in 2003. Between January and November 2021, according to the NGO Memorial, Russian authorities convicted, investigated, or charged 18 persons for alleged participation.
Of the religious groups classified as extremist or undesirable, those most discriminated against are smaller – mainly Protestant – groups accused of illegal missionary work for which fines are usually imposed. In 2021, however, the Russian government outlawed four Pentecostal Churches and banned and dissolved an Orthodox Church unaffiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses are still considered an extremist organization. In 2020, the SOVA Center reported 146 criminal cases against the religious group. In 2021, at least 142 Jehovah’s Witnesses had criminal cases initiated against them. Examples in 2022 include that of Jehovah's Witnesses’ Nikolai Stepanov and Yuri Baranov, sentenced by the Vologda City Court on 5 September 2022 for organizing activities of an extremist organization. Stepanov was condemned to four years in prison and Baranov to four years of probation. On 8 September 2022, after a raid on 13 houses of Jehovah's Witnesses in Chelyabinsk, one of the followers, Dmitriy Dolzhikov, was arrested.
In February 2021, a local congregation affiliated to the Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists was banned by Anapa city court. The prosecutor stated that from 2018 to 2020, the group evangelised and distributed materials without proper approval from the Ministry of Justice for Krasnodar Krai. The group has regularly held services for up to 200 worshippers, but allegedly refused to register.
In February 2021, a 63-year-old Christian from Kholmsk village, Krasnodar Territory received a 7½ year sentence – the maximum possible – for holding an online Bible study.
In March 2021, a member of an Evangelical Baptist Church in Novosergievka, Orenburg Oblast, was charged with conducting illegal missionary activities under Article 5.26. It was alleged that he preached and facilitated the dissemination of religious tracts between 23 November 2016 and 9 December 2020. Despite denying carrying out missionary activities, he was convicted and fined. On 29 December 2020, he had tried to regularise the group’s activities with the Ministry of Justice.
In April 2021, a minister of the Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists in Obninsk, Kaluga Oblast was fined for illegal missionary activities under Article 5.26. Pastor Vitaly Glebov’s home was visited by Federal Security Service agents after several people unknown to him attended a Bible study at his home on 13 January. On Friday 9 April, he was found guilty and fined. The pastor said he would appeal.
In May 2021, the Bread of Life Church of Christians of Evangelical Faith in Kerch, Crimea, was found guilty and fined for various administrative violations under Article 5.26, which included failing to put their full official name on videos they distributed and on their official social media pages.
In August-September 2021, a local government in Samara ordered the demolition of the Good News Church’s place of worship. According to authorities, the church building in Mekhzavod village belonging to a US based Pentecostal group violated planning regulations and the change of land usage from residential to religious use was not registered. Pastor Igor Liashevsky insisted that proper permission for construction had been obtained and all violations identified by authorities had been rectified.
In March 2022, the Russian Orthodox priest Fr Ioann Burdin was fined for a Sunday sermon condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The court imposed the fine on the priest from Kostroma Diocese on Thursday 10 March. Fr Burdin insisted that the charge was a violation of his religious freedom, saying the court’s decision was “a ban not only on expressing one’s opinion but also even on professing one’s religious beliefs”.
In June - July 2022, a criminal investigation was opened against Fr Nikandr Igoryevich Pinchuk for “discrediting” Russia’s Armed Forces under part one of Criminal Code Article 280.3, introduced in March 2022. On the social media platform Baza, the pastor of St Simeon Verkhotursky Church in Verkhoturye criticised the military action in Ukraine on religious grounds. He told Forum 18: “I am a priest and have the right to denounce evil, regardless of who is involved and the political situation”. On Friday 1st July, his home was searched and three memory sticks removed. He was subsequently questioned at the Investigative Committee’s office. In March, Fr Pinchuk, who is a priest of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (Provisional Supreme Church Authority), was fined for criticising Russian actions in Ukraine and the shelling of Orthodox churches.
On 14th September 2022, Russia's Supreme Court identified the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan as a terrorist organization and banned its activities in Russia.
Religious freedom in the context of Russian aggression against Ukraine 2014-2022
Russia’s aggression against Ukraine started on 24th February 2022. It is recognized as not the beginning of the war, but only the next stage of a war started by Russia in 2014 and frozen in 2015. As the international community does not recognize the illegal annexation of Crimea, as well as those territories gained through the subsequent invasion of Ukraine, information to the discrimination or persecution of individual faithful and religious groups, and the destruction of religious property, is addressed in the Ukraine report.
Prospects for freedom of religion
Minority religious groups experienced legal prosecution due to what the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom described as, “an array of problematic legislation”.
Numerous cases were introduced under Article 5.26 of the Code of Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation during the period under review – particularly sections Four (“Russians conducting missionary activity”) and Five (“Foreigners conducting missionary activity”). This law was introduced in 2016, as part of the so-called Yarovaya Package of counter-extremism legislation. Despite ostensibly being designed to protect individuals’ freedom of conscience and choice of religious confession by preventing aggressive and intrusive proselytism, in effect Article 5.26 goes far further, restricting “missionary activities” including preaching, praying (in certain circumstances), disseminating materials, and providing information about religion outside designated locations, especially in residential premises or public locations.
The existing and growing legal obstacles to religious freedom, and the increasingly harsh application of these laws, indicate a worrying negative trend to the future of this human right.
Russia