Source: www.forum18.org
Date: January 28, 2026
https://www.forum18.org/archiv
By Felix Corley, Forum 18
In apparently coordinated raids, Russian officials raided the Sunday
morning meetings for worship of two Council of Churches Baptist
congregations on 25 January. Police and military officers (some armed with
automatic weapons) raided the church in the town of Krasnodon [official
Ukrainian name Sorokyne] in Russian-occupied Luhansk Region.
Simultaneously, Police Anti-Extremism officers raided the church in the
nearby village of Krasnodon [official Ukrainian name Teple].
"They brusquely entered the hall of the prayer house and ordered all the
men to stand up," Pastor Vladimir Rytikov noted of the raid on his church
in the town of Krasnodon. The officers then noted the identities of some of
those present. "They questioned me and very insistently demanded my phone."
The officers accused church members of meeting illegally as the church has
no Russian registration. They took Pastor Rytikov to the police station,
where they interrogated him for some time. "They said that if we don't
register, they'll come to every service and stop it taking place" (see
below).
Officials at Krasnodon Police did not answer the phone each time Forum 18
called (see below).
Russian officials have in recent years repeatedly raided meetings for
worship in the church Pastor Rytikov leads and courts have repeatedly fined
him and other local Baptists (see below).
Between July and December 2025, Russian officials are known to have raided
at least seven meetings for worship in Russian-occupied Donetsk and Luhansk
Regions. Six of the communities were from the Council of Churches Baptists,
who meet without seeking official permission. The other was a Muslim
community. Officials brought administrative cases against at least 7
religious leaders following these raids, of which 5 have already ended with
fines for "missionary activity" (see below).
In one day in September 2025, officials raided Muslim Friday prayers in a
basement of a building in Mariupol and charged the two imams (both from
Central Asia and recently arrived in Donetsk Region), and the local court
had fined them for "missionary activity" (see below).
Officials from several Russian state agencies conducted the raids,
including from the local police, the Police's Centre for Countering
Extremism, Prosecutor's Office and Russia's FSB security service. FSB
officials were mostly from the regional branches for Luhansk or Donetsk
Regions (see below).
In two 2025 raids in Russian-occupied Donetsk Region, officials were from
the FSB's Constitutional Security Directorate, including in a raid on a
Baptist church in Amvrosiivka
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
on a Council of Baptists congregation in Mariupol in autumn 2025 (see
below).
The duty officer at Donetsk Region FSB (who did not give his name) refused
to put Forum 18 through on 27 January to any officer who could explain why
Russia's FSB takes part in raids on individuals exercising freedom of
religion or belief. He himself could not answer either. He also refused to
explain the role of the FSB's Constitutional Security Directorate. "I'm not
authorised to give comments," he told Forum 18 before putting the phone
down.
In addition to these known raids on religious communities during worship
meetings, officials brought a further two cases against individuals for
alleged "missionary activity" of which one has already ended with a fine
(see below).
An official at the Mariupol office of the Russian-appointed Human Rights
Ombudsperson for Donetsk refused to answer any of Forum 18's questions
about what it might have done (if anything) to protect the rights of
Muslims and Baptists whose worship meetings in the city were raided. He
referred all questions to the office in Donetsk (see below).
Karina Galkina of the press office of the Russian-appointed Human Rights
Ombudsperson for Donetsk, Darya Morozova, told Forum 18 on 28 January that
it would respond about what Morozova might have done (if anything) to
protect the rights of Muslims and Baptists whose worship meetings were
raided and leaders punished.
Council of Churches Baptist congregations choose not to seek official
registration in any country where they operate. They also usually refuse to
notify the authorities of the start of their activity. Russian officials
claim that their exercise of freedom of religion or belief – including
meeting for worship or sharing their faith – is therefore illegal (see
below).
In its latest report on the human rights situation in Ukraine, covering
June to November 2025, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine
again called on the Russian occupation authorities: "Respect the freedoms
of expression, opinion, and religion, by .. allowing religious communities
to practice their faith freely, subject only to the strict limits provided
in international human rights law" (see below).
Russia's serious violations of freedom of religion or belief in occupied
Ukraine
Russia seriously violates freedom of religion or belief
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
rights in parts of Ukraine it illegally occupies (about a fifth of
Ukraine's territory). Among such violations are:
- illegal annexation of territory and imposition of Russian law violating
human rights;
- pressuring, kidnapping, torturing, jailing, and murdering religious
leaders;
- seizing places of worship with no compensation;
- stopping meetings for worship, banning and closing religious communities;
- jailing prisoners of conscience for exercising freedom of religion or
belief;
- transnational repression;
- banning religious texts and purging libraries;
- "anti-missionary" prosecutions; and
- the broadcasting of disinformation against religious communities and
believers.
In a May 2025 report to the United Nations Human Rights Council on the
situation of human rights in the temporarily occupied territories of
Ukraine (A/HRC/59/67 (https://docs.un.org/A/HRC/59/
Secretary-General António Guterres repeated earlier UN calls
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
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
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
"No individual should be criminally charged or detained simply for
practising their religion, including in the forms of collective worship and
proselytizing, in accordance with international human rights law,"
Secretary-General Guterres insisted
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
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."
In its latest report on the human rights situation in Ukraine, covering 1
June – 30 November 2025
(https://ukraine.ohchr.org/sit
the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine issued a call to the
Russian occupation authorities: "Respect the freedoms of expression,
opinion, and religion, by ceasing all measures that seek to suppress
Ukrainian identity, ending the prosecution of individuals for dissent, and
allowing religious communities to practice their faith freely, subject only
to the strict limits provided in international human rights law."
Russian-imposed punishments for meeting for worship, sharing faith
Russian occupation authorities are also imposing punishments for meeting
for worship or sharing faith without Russian permission.
Russian citizens accused of "unlawful missionary activity" are prosecuted
under Russian Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 4, and can receive
fines of 5,000 to 50,000 Russian Roubles. Foreign citizens can be fined
30,000 to 50,000 Roubles under Russian 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
Russian Roubles.
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 Russian Constitutional Court ruling
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
submit notification of the existence of a religious group does not in
isolation constitute an offence under Administrative Code Article 5.26,
Part 4 ("Russians conducting missionary activity").
Lawsuits in Russia to ban religious communities' activities are invariably
linked to accusations of "unlawful missionary activity"
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
both because it can be used as evidence of the de facto existence of a
religious group, as in a 2022 Russian Constitutional Court ruling
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
provides additional grounds for prohibition, given that lack of
notification is in itself not enough.
On 27 December 2016, the Plenum of Russia's Supreme Court issued a
resolution partially clarifying the process of prohibiting a religious
group's activities (https://www.forum18.org/archi
but still leaving much to the discretion of both prosecutors and judges.
According to Point 5, if a group leader has not submitted notification,
"the prosecutor has the right to file an administrative claim to prohibit
the activities of such a religious association in court". Point 24 states
that religious groups' activities may be prohibited on the same grounds
that registered religious organisations may be liquidated, ie.
"implementation .. of activities prohibited by law, or in violation of the
Constitution of the Russian Federation, or with other repeated or gross
violations of the law or other legal acts", but also, crucially, that
"Based on the specifics of the creation and legal status of a religious
group, as enshrined in the Law on Freedom of Conscience, failure to submit
notification of the commencement of its activities cannot in itself be
grounds for prohibiting the activities of such a group".
Council of Churches Baptist congregations – who are often prosecuted in
Russian-occupied Ukraine (https://www.forum18.org/analy
for "missionary" activity - choose not to seek official registration in any
country where they operate. They also usually refuse to notify the
authorities of the start of their activity. Russian officials claim that
their exercise of freedom of religion or belief – including meeting for
worship or sharing their faith – is therefore illegal.
Krasnodon town: Police raid Baptist meeting
On 25 January, Russian Police and military officers (some armed with
automatic weapons) and other officials raided the Sunday morning worship
service of the Council of Churches Baptists in the town of Krasnodon
[official Ukrainian name Sorokyne] in Russian-occupied Luhansk Region.
"The Police officers told us the others in plain clothes were the boss from
Luhansk, a lieutenant colonel and others with him," the church's Pastor
Vladimir Rytikov noted.
"They brusquely entered the hall of the prayer house and ordered all the
men to stand up," Pastor Rytikov added. The officers then noted the
identities of some of those present. "They questioned me and very
insistently demanded my phone. I said I didn't have my phone with me. They
asked where it was, and that I go back home to get it. But I repeated that
I didn't have my phone with me."
The officers accused church members of meeting illegally as the church has
no Russian registration. They took Pastor Rytikov to the police station,
where they interrogated him for some time. "They said that if we don't
register, they'll come to every service and stop it taking place," Pastor
Rytikov said.
Pastor Rytikov explained to the police officers why the church does not
seek registration "but they insisted on their own view" that its meetings
are illegal. "The discussion was very crude, with rudeness and swearing,"
he noted.
Officials at Krasnodon Police did not answer the phone each time Forum 18
called on 27 and 28 January.
Russian officials have in recent years repeatedly raided meetings for
worship (https://www.forum18.org/archi
Pastor Rytikov leads and courts have repeatedly fined him and other local
Baptists.
Krasnodon village: Police raid Baptist meeting
On 25 January, Russian Police Centre for Countering Extremism officers
raided the Sunday morning worship service of the Council of Churches
Baptists in the village of Krasnodon [official Ukrainian name Teple], 15
kms west of the town of Krasnodon in Russian-occupied Luhansk Region.
Officers took statements from the church's two pastors, Pyotr Tatarenko and
V. Dmitrienko. "In conversation the officers exerted pressure to register
the church," Pastor Tatarenko noted.
Stakhanov: Raid on Baptist meeting
On Friday 1 August 2025, Russian officials raided the Council of Churches
Baptist congregation during their meeting for worship in the town of
Stakhanov [official Ukrainian name Kadiyevka] in Luhansk Region. Officials
accused the community of missionary activity and failing to notify the
Russian authorities of the start of their activity, local Baptists noted.
On 7 October 2025, Stakhanov Prosecutor's Office summoned the church's
leader, Pastor Andrey Khmelevskoy. Prosecutors handed him a record of an
offence under Russian Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 4 ("Russians
conducting missionary activity"). Prosecutors handed the case to Stakhanov
Town Court.
On 27 October 2025, at the second hearing in the case, Judge Oksana Krotova
of the Russian-controlled Stakhanov Town Court found Pastor Khmelevskoy
guilty of conducting unapproved "missionary activity". She fined him 5,000
Russian Roubles (several days' average local wage). Stakhanov's Prosecutor
took part in the hearing.
"Making up my accusation of missionary activity were a photo of the prayer
house, secretly recorded video of the start of a service I was leading, as
well as a mass of fabricated accusations," Pastor Khmelevskoy said.
"The Stakhanov Town Court decision understands holding normal services, in
which our brother takes part together with fellow believers, as conducting
missionary activity," church members complained on 8 November 2025. They
point to Article 16 of Russia's Religion Law, which allows holding
religious meetings in homes without additional requirements.
Pastor Khmelevskoy appealed against the fine to Luhansk Supreme Court. On
10 December 2025, Judge Olga Andrushchenko rejected his appeal and left the
fine unchanged, according to court records. Stakhanov's Russian-appointed
Acting Prosecutor, Andrey Ryabko, represented the Prosecutor's Office at
the hearing.
Officials at Stakhanov Prosecutor's Office did not answer the phone each
time Forum 18 called between 26 and 28 January 2026.
Mariupol: Raid on Baptist meeting
In autumn 2025, Russian officials raided a morning meeting for worship of
the Council of Churches Baptist church in Ilych District of Mariupol in
Russian-occupied Donetsk Region. The officials – from the District
Prosecutor's Office, accompanied by officers of the Russian FSB's
Constitutional Security Directorate and the FSB's Regional Department –
claim to have been undertaking an inspection in line with Russia's 2002
Anti-Extremism Law, according to the subsequent court decision.
On 22 October 2025, Prosecutors handed a case against Pastor Vladimir
Protsenko to the Russian-controlled Ilich District of Mariupol under
Russian Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 4 ("Russians conducting
missionary activity"). On 30 October 2025, Judge Yuliya Golovchenko found
him guilty and fined him 5,000 Russian Roubles (several days' average local
wage), according to the decision seen by Forum 18.
The decision claims that officials had established during the raid (which
it called an "inspection") that between 10 and 12 am that morning, Pastor
Protsenko was leading "a gathering of persons professing Christianity
organised for residents and visitors of the city, with the aim of carrying
out activities aimed at disseminating information about their doctrine (its
religious postulates) among persons who are not participants (members,
followers) of this religious association, accompanied by the reading of the
Gospel". About 150 people were present.
The decision claimed the Council of Churches Baptist congregation there had
functioned since 2022, an apparent reference to the date of the Russian
takeover of Mariupol. It noted that the congregation had not notified the
Russian authorities of the start of its activity.
An official at the Mariupol office of the Russian-appointed Human Rights
Ombudsperson for Donetsk refused to answer any of Forum 18's questions on
28 January about what it might have done (if anything) to protect the
rights of Baptists and Muslims whose worship meetings in the city were
raided. He referred all questions to the office in Donetsk.
Sverdlovsk: Police out of time in attempted "missionary" prosecution
On 10 August, Russian Police and Police Centre for Countering Extremism
officers raided the Sunday morning meeting for worship
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
Churches Baptist congregation in Sverdlovsk [official Ukrainian name
Dovzhansk] in Russian-occupied Luhansk Region. 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.
Police in Sverdlovsk summoned Pastor Pyotr Tatarenko on 5 November 2025.
"They again took a statement from me about the service in Sverdlovsk on 10
August," he noted the same day. "Then they immediately drew up a record of
an offence for missionary activity and handed it to the court."
On 21 November 2025, however, Pastor Tatarenko received a letter from the
Russian-controlled Sverdlovsk Town Court informing him that the case was
being sent back to the police. The court said that because 90 days had
expired since the event, it could no longer consider the case because of
the statute of limitations.
Makeyevka: FSB, Police raid Baptist service, court fines Pastor
On 28 August, the Russian Police's Centre for Countering Extremism reported
on the Council of Churches Baptist congregation in Makeyevka in
Russian-occupied Donetsk Region.
On 7 September 2025, officers of the Russian FSB, Police and Prosecutor's
Office raided the church's Sunday morning worship meeting. "They waited for
the end of the service, then conducted a search and talks with several
church members, which they recorded," church members noted. Officers took
photos.
The Prosecutor's Office summoned Pastor Aleksandr Voitukhov the following
day. On 15 September 2025, Makeyevka's Acting Prosecutor Maksim Klimenko
drew up a record of an offence under Russian Administrative Code Article
5.26, Part 4 ("Russians conducting missionary activity") for conducting an
"illegal" worship service.
On 18 September 2025, Prosecutors handed the case to Makeyevka's
Central-City District Court. On 2 October, Judge Valeriya Alborova found
Pastor Voitukhov guilty and fined him 5,000 Russian Roubles (several days'
average local wage), according to the decision seen by Forum 18.
Makeyevka's Acting Prosecutor Klimenko led the prosecution case in court.
Pastor Voitukhov did not attend, asking for the court to go ahead in his
absence.
The court decision notes that the 7 September inspection by officers of the
Police's Centre for Countering Extremism and Donetsk Region FSB
"established that between 10:00 a.m. and 12:02 p.m., in the premises
located at the above-mentioned address, under the leadership of A.A.
Voitukhov, a gathering of persons professing Christianity was organised for
residents and visitors of Makeyevka, for the purpose of carrying out
activities aimed at disseminating information about their doctrine (its
religious postulates) among persons who are not participants (members,
followers) of this religious association, accompanied by the reading of the
Gospel".
Krasny Luch: Police raid Baptist meeting
Russian Police Centre for Countering Extremism officers raided the Sunday
morning worship service on 14 December 2025 of the Council of Churches
Baptists in the town of Krasny Luch [official Ukrainian name Khrustalny] in
Russian-occupied Luhansk Region.
"When the service was over, they conducted an inspection of the premises
and took statements from Pastor Anatoly Krutik, as well as the woman who
owns the house and three other church members," local Baptists noted on 17
December 2025. "When they had finished the inspection, they left the prayer
house."
Khartsyzk: Officials raid Baptist meeting
On 23 December 2025, officials raided the worship service of the Council of
Churches Baptists in the town of Khartsyzk in Russian-occupied Donetsk
Region.
In early January 2026, officials charged the pastor, Oleg Stroyev, under
Russian Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 4 ("Russians conducting
missionary activity"). The case was presented to the Russian-controlled
Khartsyzk Inter-District Court on 23 January, according to court records.
The case is due to be heard by Judge Roman Tashchilin.
"Officials have questioned us, and inspected the church building more than
once," one church member told Forum 18.
Mariupol: Russian FSB, Prosecutor's Office raid Muslim prayers, fines
follow
On 19 September 2025, officials from the Russian-controlled Mariupol
Prosecutor's Office and the Mariupol office of the Russian FSB raided
Muslim Friday prayers in a prayer room in the basement of a building in the
city.
E. Orekhova of Mariupol Prosecutor's Office charged two prayer leaders,
Nomozdjon Komilov and Saparali Kholov, under Russian Administrative Code
Article 5.26, Part 5 ("Foreigners conducting missionary activity"). Both
are foreign citizens, apparently from Central Asia. Kholov had arrived in
April 2025 and Komilov only in July 2025.
Orekhova handed the cases the same day to Mariupol's Zhovtnev District
Court. Also that same day, Judge Pavel Belousov held both hearings and
found both Komilov and Kholov guilty of conducting "illegal missionary
activity". He fined each 30,000 Russian Roubles (three weeks' average local
wage), according to the decisions seen by Forum 18. He did not order either
deported.
Neither Komilov nor Kholov appealed against the punishments and the
decisions came into force on 31 September 2025.
"The inspection revealed that in one of the non-residential premises .. in
the basement is a prayer room where namaz is held daily at 5:20 am, 1:00
pm, 5:00 pm, 6:50 pm, and 8:25 pm," the court decisions note. "The prayers
are conducted (organised) by S.Kh. Kholov and N.M. Komilov. The duration of
the prayer is 5 minutes. Namaz is held daily at the above-mentioned times,
with the number of people varying from 2 to 20."
Kholov told the court that he had served as an imam in his home country
from 2004 until March 2025 and had regularly led prayers. "Kholov has no
documents for carrying out religious activity in the Russian Federation,"
the court decision notes.
An official at the Mariupol office of the Russian-appointed Human Rights
Ombudsperson for Donetsk refused to answer any of Forum 18's questions on
28 January about what it might have done (if anything) to protect the
rights of Muslims and Baptists whose worship meetings in the city were
raided. He referred all questions to the office in Donetsk.
Donetsk Region: "Missionary" fines
On 11 December 2025, a case was handed to the Russian-controlled Debaltsevo
Town Court in Russian-occupied Donetsk Region against Olga Gerasimchuk for
alleged "missionary activity". On 29 December 2025, Judge Natalya Komardina
found her guilty and punished her under Russian Administrative Code Article
5.26, Part 4 ("Russians conducting missionary activity"), according to
court records.
Gerasimchuk did not appeal against the punishment and it entered legal
force on 13 January 2026.
Elsewhere in Russian-occupied Donetsk Region, on 16 December 2025, a case
was handed to the Russian-controlled Dokuchayevsk Town Court against Valery
Savanu for alleged "missionary activity". On 15 January 2026, Judge Nikita
Biryuchkov found him guilty and punished him under Russian Administrative
Code Article 5.26, Part 4, according to court records.
Communities' forced registration under Russian law
The Russian occupation authorities insist that religious communities that
want to exist must register under Russian law
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
the authorities of their existence). Their leaders must have accepted
Russian citizenship.
As of late January 2026, the Russian authorities have registered 203
communities in the occupied parts of Zaporizhzhia Region, 167 in the
occupied parts of Kherson Region, 460 in the occupied parts of Donetsk
Region, 397 in the occupied parts of Luhansk Region, 116 in the occupied
Crimean city of Sevastopol and 860 in the rest of the occupied Crimean
peninsula.
Communities banned in Russia – like Jehovah's Witnesses – have been
stripped of registration. Communities the Russian authorities do not like
– including the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), Greek Catholic Church
(with the exception of Crimea, where they have been allowed to register as
"Catholics of the Byzantine Rite", and one community with no priest in
Donetsk), and Roman Catholics (with the exception of Crimea, and one
community with no priest in Luhansk) – do not have Russian registration
and therefore cannot openly meet.
Communities that wish to retain links to Ukrainian headquarter bodies or
associations (including Orthodox communities directly under the Ukrainian
Orthodox Church) are not allowed to register. The Russian authorities have
registered some Muslim and Protestant communities which have either cut
ties to Ukrainian headquarter bodies and linked to Russian-based bodies or
remain independent.
On 28 December 2025, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law which
includes a requirement that religious organisations registered before
Russia illegally annexed Ukraine's Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and
Kherson Regions are required to bring their statutes into line with Russian
law by 15 March 2027. Those that fail to do so will lose their legal
status.
It appears that the religious organisations likely to have to change their
statutes are those registered by the Donetsk and Luhansk "People's
Republics" between 2014 and 2022. These communities were incorporated
wholesale into Russian registers of legal entities. Communities in occupied
parts of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson Regions had to register afresh under
Russian law. Russian occupation authorities do not recognise Ukrainian
registrations. (END)
More reports on freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Occupied
Ukraine (https://www.forum18.org/archi
For background information, see Forum 18's Occupied Ukraine religious
freedom survey (https://www.forum18.org/archi
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