Source: www.forum18.org
Date: October 9, 2026
https://www.forum18.org/archiv
By Felix Corley, Forum 18
More than 67 years after his birth and 40 years living in the same house in
Krasnodon, now in Russian-occupied Luhansk Region, Council of Churches
Baptist Pastor Vladimir Rytikov – a Ukrainian citizen - has lost his
appeal on 6 October against the decision to annul his Russian residence
permit. The decision now goes into force and he faces deportation from all
Russian-controlled territory, both Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine and
Russia itself. He intends to appeal to the Second Cassational Court in
Moscow, asking also for the deportation to be suspended pending the
cassational appeal.
The Russian-controlled Interior Ministry branch in Luhansk annulled Pastor
Rytikov's residence permit in February on the basis of information about
him from the Federal Security Service (FSB) branch in Russia's Rostov
Region. The FSB claimed he was an individual who "advocates for the violent
change of the foundations of the constitutional order of the Russian
Federation, or by other actions creates a threat to the security of the
Russian Federation or citizens of the Russian Federation". The FSB gave no
details in court or elsewhere of any threat Pastor Rytikov represented (see
below).
The duty officer at Rostov Region FSB refused to put Forum 18 through to
anyone who could explain why it issued such an instruction about Pastor
Rytikov (see below).
The Council of Churches Baptist congregation in Krasnodon [official
Ukrainian name Sorokyne], which Pastor Rytikov leads, meets for worship
without Russian registration or notification of its existence to the
Russian Justice Ministry. Russian officials have in recent years repeatedly
raided meetings for worship in the church. Courts have repeatedly fined him
and other local Baptists (see below).
Pastor Rytikov pointed out after the 6 October hearing that his "guilt" was
his alleged threat to the security of the Russian Federation. "No one could
say how this threat was manifested. It was a finding by the FSB. I was told
many times 'It was not us, it was the Rostov FSB', and we should therefore
ask them the question, so that they could give clarity as to the reasons
for the expulsion, the deportation as they put it" (see below).
Pastor Rytikov added: "The court paid no attention to my statements that I
was born and have lived in Krasnodon for 67 years, have a family –
children and grandchildren, brothers and sisters, and our son, disabled as
a result of military action in 2015, lives with us - this is my home, and
my home church in which I carry out service as a pastor. I have put
everything into the hands of the Lord" (see below).
Russian officials have seized documents for Pastor Rytikov's house and land
and will not return them. "They've deprived us of all rights. For a year
and a half, my wife and I have not received our pensions," he noted in July
(see below).
Forum 18 again asked the Russian-controlled Luhansk Human Rights
Ombudsperson Anna Soroka why officials were preparing to deport Pastor
Rytikov, who had been born locally and lived most of his life there. Forum
18 also asked what action she was preparing to take (if any) in the case.
Forum 18 received no response (see below).
Meanwhile, Russian officials have continued to prosecute religious leaders
for "missionary activity" to punish them for exercising freedom of religion
or belief. Krasnodon Town Court fined the pastor of a different local
Baptist church on 21 July. In an apparent first in parts of Ukraine Russia
illegally occupied in 2022, on 25 August Luhansk's Zhovtnevy District
upheld the Russian-controlled Prosecutor's Office suit to ban the activity
of a local Council of Churches Baptist congregation because it meets for
worship without registration or notification of its existence (see
forthcoming F18News article).
Krasnodon-born, Soviet-era religious prisoner of conscience
Vladimir Pavlovich Rytikov was born in Krasnodon in the then Voroshilovgrad
Region of Soviet Ukraine on 1 September 1959. Like his father and other
relatives, he became a member of the Council of Churches Baptists. Their
communities refused to seek state permission to exercise freedom of
religion or belief, both in the Soviet period and afterwards.
The Soviet authorities jailed Rytikov from 1979 to 1982 to punish his
exercise of freedom of religion or belief. He was rehabilitated in 1995.
(His father Pavel was jailed on the same day in 1979, also for three
years.)
Vladimir Rytikov has led the Krasnodon church since 1990. The Baptists
ordained him as a pastor in 1995.
The Interior Ministry of the then Luhansk People's Republic issued Pastor
Rytikov with a passport on 2 August 2021. However, the Russian authorities
declared LNR passports no longer valid after the end of 2024. Pastor
Rytikov - who retains his Ukrainian passport - declined to swear the oath
of allegiance and accept a Russian passport.
Rytikov has lived in the same house in Krasnodon since November 1986,
according to the 17 July 2026 court decision. He is the primary carer for
one of his sons, who has suffered from disabilities since 2015. He also
looks after his wife Lyudmila, whose health has suffered in recent years.
Repeated raids on worship meetings, fines
After Russian-backed rebels established the Luhansk People's Republic in
2014, its officials repeatedly raided Council of Churches Baptist
congregations and fined those who lead them. This continued after Russia's
full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and its claim to have
annexed Ukrainian territories in September 2022.
Russian officials have in recent years repeatedly raided meetings for
worship (https://www.forum18.org/archi
Pastor Vladimir Rytikov leads in Krasnodon [official Ukrainian name
Sorokyne] in Russian-occupied Luhansk Region. Courts have repeatedly fined
him and other local Baptists.
When Pastor Rytikov was last fined
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
missionary activity" in July 2025, prosecutors brought the case against him
under Russian Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 5 ("Foreigners
conducting missionary activity") as a non-citizen. The court fined him but
did not order his expulsion.
On 25 January 2026, about 10 officials from the Russian Interior Ministry's
Centre for Countering Extremism, local Police and military (some armed with
automatic weapons), raided the Krasnodon church's Sunday morning worship
service (https://www.forum18.org/archi
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 in January
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
Pastor Rytikov complained to the Interior Ministry's Centre for Countering
Extremism in Luhansk about its officers' actions during the raid. However,
in a 25 March written response (seen by Forum 18), it deemed his complaint
"unsupported, as the circumstances set out in the appeal have been
recognised as unfounded".
Forum 18 was unable to reach the Interior Ministry's Centre for Countering
Extremism each time it called on 8 October.
On 9 March, officials handed Pastor Rytikov a summons from acting head of
Krasnodon Police Lieutenant Colonel Aleksey Mikhailovsky. He ordered Pastor
Rytikov to come to the police station on the morning of 19 March for them
to draw up a record of an offence under Russian Administrative Code Article
5.26, Part 4 ("Russians conducting missionary activity") for leading his
unregistered Baptist congregation.
On 11 March, three police officers came to Pastor Rytikov's home in
Krasnodon. They insisted that he had to go to the police station not on 19
March but immediately for them to draw up the record of an offence for
"illegal missionary activity".
Officials annul residence permit
Russian Migration Service officials came to Pastor Vladimir Rytikov's home
in Krasnodon on 21 March. They told him they were cancelling his residence
permit (https://www.forum18.org/archi
he had to leave for another country within two weeks. When he asked where
he should go, they responded: "Go, maybe to Poland."
Migration officials told Pastor Rytikov that they were annulling only his
residence permit, and not that of his wife Lyudmila. They refused to say
why they were annulling his residence permit. "I was born here and have
lived here for [nearly] 67 years, now I'm being driven out," Pastor Rytikov
said he told the officials. "What if I don't go anywhere?" Officials
responded: "We'll punish you." They added that they would remove him
forcibly.
"They demanded that he hand them the document (residence permit)," local
Baptists noted on 22 March. "But Vladimir refused to do so as they were
holding a rubber stamp in their hands and wanted to stamp it as annulled."
They told him the Migration Service has already informed all relevant
(Russian) agencies.
When Pastor Rytikov asked why he was being forced to leave, the Migration
Service officials showed him an order but refused to allow him to read it
or to give him a copy. They ordered him to come to their office in
Krasnodon on 23 March for his residence permit to be stamped as annulled.
Pastor Rytikov said he and his wife prayed about it and decided that he
would remain. "The Lord saw fit for me to perform a ministry in Krasnodon,"
he noted (https://www.forum18.org/archi
"My telephone is surveilled and listened to," Pastor Rytikov added.
Pastor "advocates for violent change of .. constitutional order"?
On 23 March, Migration Service officials in Krasnodon handed Pastor
Vladimir Rytikov a document
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
Luhansk Region's Deputy Interior Minister Dmitry Semyonov had annulled his
residence permit on 11 February as a foreign citizen who "advocates for the
violent change of the foundations of the constitutional order of the
Russian Federation, or by other actions creates a threat to the security of
the Russian Federation or citizens of the Russian Federation".
Subsequent court documents indicate that on 5 February, the Federal
Security Service (FSB) branch in Russia's Rostov Region had responded to a
request from Luhansk Interior Ministry branch and had not supported
granting a residence permit to Pastor Rytikov. The FSB cited Article 9,
Part 1, Point 1 of the 2002 Russian Law on the Legal Status of Foreign
Citizens, which allows for refusal or stripping of a residence permit for
an individual who "advocates for the violent change of the foundations of
the constitutional order of the Russian Federation, or by other actions
creates a threat to the security of the Russian Federation or citizens of
the Russian Federation".
The duty officer at Rostov Region FSB refused to put Forum 18 through on 8
October to anyone who could explain why it issued such an instruction about
Pastor Rytikov.
The Interior Ministry of the then Luhansk People's Republic issued Pastor
Rytikov with a passport on 2 August 2021. However, the Russian authorities
declared LNR passports no longer valid after the end of 2024. Pastor
Rytikov - who retains his Ukrainian passport - declined to swear the oath
of allegiance and accept a Russian passport.
The Migration Service ordered Pastor Rytikov to leave Russian-controlled
territory (both Russia and Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine) within 15
days. "In case of failure to leave within the specified period, you will be
subject to deportation," it warned.
Although the decision was handed down by the Interior Ministry's Migration
Service, the deportation order came at the instigation of the Russian FSB,
as became clear in the subsequent court case.
Pastor's court challenge rejected
Pastor Vladimir Rytikov brought a civil administrative suit
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
Interior Ministry's Luhansk branch to Krasnodon Town Court "to recognise as
illegal and to cancel the decision to annul the residence permit". The
court set a hearing for 9 April.
Several hearings under Judge Yekaterina Pridatko took place. D. Morozov
represented the Interior Ministry in court. Vartan Nazaretyan, a lawyer
from Russia's Stavropol Region, represented Pastor Rytikov.
Only Pastor Rytikov was allowed into the court for each hearing. Even his
wife Lyudmila was denied entry, as were church members. Each time, dozens
of church members gathered at the court to support Pastor Rytikov.
At the final hearing on 17 July, Judge Pridatko rejected Pastor Rytikov's
suit (https://www.forum18.org/archi
entirety", church members noted. The written objection submitted by the
Russian FSB indicated that its arguments are beyond even judicial review.
The FSB is not required to provide evidence, and the court has no authority
to demand it. "Neither the Interior Ministry nor the court knows the
reasons for my deportation," Pastor Rytikov wrote after the court hearing.
"The FSB's explanation was brief and perfunctory: 'A threat to security'."
The 14-page written decision, issued on 22 July and seen by Forum 18, was
given to Pastor Rytikov only after he submitted a written request for it on
24 July.
The decision notes that Rostov Region FSB had not sent a representative to
the hearings but had sent its written objection to Pastor Rytikov's suit.
It added that Russia's FSB Statute requires it to participate in decisions
on which foreign citizens are allowed to enter and live "on the territory
of the Russian Federation". It also stressed that it has the right to
determine who represents a threat to state security or public order. It
claimed the Rostov Region FSB had "facts" confirming the danger Pastor
Rytikov represented and had shared those in writing with Luhansk Interior
Ministry. The court decision does not reveal what those "facts" are.
The court concluded that the decision to annul Pastor Rytikov's residence
permit on the basis of information about him from Rostov Region FSB
"represents an adequate measure of state reaction and does not violate his
rights". It added that the decision had been taken by a "competent body in
accordance with current legislation".
"My desire is to serve the Lord here, in this place"
"My desire is to serve the Lord here, in this place," Pastor Vladimir
Rytikov insisted after the 17 July hearing. "I'm a native of Krasnodon in
Luhansk Region, I was born and lived here for 67 years. I am not a migrant,
I have served as a pastor in the local church since 1990. This is my home,
my home church, my wife, my children and my grandchildren. It is my only
residence, but officials have seized documents for the house and land and
won't return them. They've deprived us of all rights. For a year and a
half, my wife and I have not received our pensions."
Pastor Rytikov added: "Over the past seven years I have been taken to court
many times: for missionary activity and holding services without giving
notification of the start of a religious group's activity. Each year there
have been two or three court cases, and many fines."
Officials at the Migration Service in both Krasnodon and Luhansk – part
of Russia's Interior Ministry – did not answer the phone each time Forum
18 called on 8 October.
The telephone at Krasnodon's Russian-controlled Police went unanswered each
time Forum 18 called on 8 October.
Pastor's further court challenge rejected
Once he received the written Krasnodon Town Court decision, Pastor Vladimir
Rytikov lodged a further challenge to the Russian-controlled Luhansk
Supreme Court, which received it on 10 September. On 6 October, a panel of
three judges – chaired by Olga Bondarenko - rejected Pastor Rytikov's
suit, according to court records.
Several dozen church members came to the court in Luhansk to support their
pastor, greeting him and his wife afterwards with flowers. The hearing was
closed, Pastor Rytikov noted after the hearing. "My request was that they
should allow into the courtroom my wife, children, grandchildren, and
church members who had come to the court. They let no one in. Three judges
conducted the hearing, there was a secretary, a military guard, and an
Interior Ministry representative."
Vartan Nazaretyan, a lawyer from Russia's Stavropol Region, represented
Pastor Rytikov in the challenge, as he had done in the suit at Krasnodon
Town Court. However, for health reasons the lawyer was not able to attend
the hearing.
Pastor Rytikov pointed out that his "guilt" was his alleged threat to the
security of the Russian Federation. "No one could say how this threat was
manifested. It was a finding by the FSB. I was told many times 'It was not
us, it was the Rostov FSB', and we should therefore ask them the question,
so that they could give clarity as to the reasons for the expulsion, the
deportation as they put it."
Pastor Rytikov added: "The court paid no attention to my statements that I
was born and have lived in Krasnodon for 67 years, have a family –
children and grandchildren, brothers and sisters, and our son, disabled as
a result of military action in 2015, lives with us - this is my home, and
my home church in which I carry out service as a pastor. I have put
everything into the hands of the Lord." He acknowledged the "great worry"
the court decision has caused in the church.
Pastor Rytikov said that the court set no timescale for any deportation,
indicating that it was not its role to get involved.
Pastor Rytikov to appeal further
Now that Luhansk Supreme Court has rejected his appeal, the decision
allowing the deportation of Pastor Vladimir Rytikov enters legal force once
the Supreme Court has sent it to Krasnodon Town Court. Pastor Rytikov's
lawyer, Vartan Nazaretyan, says his client will appeal further to the
Second Cassational Court in Moscow. If that fails, he will appeal to
Russia's Supreme Court.
"When we get the written court decision, we will lodge the cassational
appeal," Nazaretyan told Forum 18 on 8 October. "We will also request a
halt to the implementation of deportation until the cassational appeal is
heard."
No response from Russian-controlled Human Rights Ombudsperson
On 8 October, Forum 18 again asked the Russian-controlled Luhansk Human
Rights Ombudsperson Anna Soroka in writing why officials were preparing to
deport Pastor Vladimir Rytikov, who had been born locally and lived most of
his life there. Forum 18 also asked what action Soroka was preparing to
take (if any) in the case. Forum 18 had received no response by the middle
of the working day locally of 9 October.
Soroka did not respond
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
questions. (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
Follow us on Bluesky @Forum18
(https://bsky.app/profile/foru
Follow us on Facebook @Forum18NewsService
(https://www.facebook.com/Foru
Follow us on Telegram @Forum18NewsService
(https://telegram.me/s/forum18
Follow us on WhatsApp Forum 18
(https://www.whatsapp.com/chan
Follow us on X/Twitter @Forum_18 (https://x.com/forum_18)
All Forum 18 material may be referred to, quoted from, or republished in
full, if Forum 18 is credited as the source.
All photographs that are not Forum 18's copyright are attributed to the
copyright owner. If you reuse any photographs from Forum 18's website, you
must seek permission for any reuse from the copyright owner or abide by the
copyright terms the copyright owner has chosen.
© Forum 18 News Service. All rights reserved. ISSN 1504-2855.