Courts have banned the activities of three more Council of Churches Baptist communities in the southern Russian region of Krasnodar because of their refusal to seek any form of state registration. Prosecutors are seeking a similar prohibition on another Baptist church's activities in the Far East. Once a court ruling enters legal force, church leaders are at risk of fines if they continue to conduct worship services, and bailiffs may seal church buildings, preventing access by congregations.

The latest bans bring to ten the total number of known bans on Council of Churches Baptist communities. The practice of imposing such prohibitions – specifically for failing to notify Justice Ministry authorities of the beginning of a religious group's activities – has increased noticeably over 2024 and 2025, a lawyer familiar with the situation confirmed to Forum 18 in August.

Council of Churches Baptist communities continue to meet for worship regardless of any court decisions to ban their activities.

(During raids on Council of Churches Baptist communities in Russian-occupied Ukraine, Russian officials try to pressure them to seek Russian registration or notify the Russian authorities of their activity.)

"In Russia, the 'witch hunt' is continuing", another lawyer, Anatoly Pchelintsev, wrote on his Telegram channel on 23 October, the same day that an appeal court upheld an earlier ban on a church in the Mari El Republic. "I have a question for the deputies who seem so quick to pass prohibitive and punitive laws. What's stopping them from introducing clarity and certainty into the legislation on this issue, so as not to harass believers?"

"This practice is only growing", agreed lawyer and freedom of religion or belief advocate Sergey Chugunov, also on 23 October (see below).

The trend appears to be particularly pronounced in Krasnodar Region, with six of the known lawsuits taking place there. There have been others in each of the Mari El Republic and Ulyanovsk Region in central Russia, the Far Eastern Amur Region, and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug in Western Siberia (see below).

Exactly why Krasnodar Region prosecutors are trying to ban so many Baptist communities' activities is unclear. It is likely partly linked to the high number of administrative prosecutions in the Region for "unlawful missionary activity", which usually form part of the evidence in such lawsuits. Fines on individuals are generally 5,000 Roubles, equivalent to several days' average wage.

Forum 18 wrote to Krasnodar Region Prosecutor's Office on 24 October, asking why prosecutors wanted to have these churches' activities prohibited. Forum 18 had received no response by the end of 4 November (a public holiday).

None of the courts which have issued the bans on the Council of Churches congregations responded to Forum 18's questions (see below).

So far, Council of Churches Baptists appear to be the only religious community affected by this trend, lawyers have told Forum 18. Some other communities also worship without either registering as religious organisations or submitting notification of the creation of a religious group. This means that it is technically possible that they too may be vulnerable to lawsuits. These may include some other Protestants and some Muslims (for example, small rural congregations, or students or migrant workers who worship together informally in hostels or workplaces).

Refusal to register their communities or otherwise accept state regulation has been a key element of Council of Churches Baptists' identity since their emergence in the Soviet Union in the 1960s. Council of Churches Baptists argue that the 1997 Religion Law and the Russian Constitution – as well as Russia's international human rights obligations - permit them to meet for worship without state involvement.

Possible restrictions on worship on residential premises?

On 16 June 2025, a group of State Duma deputies introduced a bill which, if passed, would outlaw public worship services and religious rites and ceremonies on residential premises and in the non-residential parts of blocks of flats.

"These amendments would affect the absolute majority of prayer rooms of the [Council of Churches Baptists]", Novaya Gazeta Europe observed on 12 August.

On 1 October, the federal government responded critically to proposed changes, noting that they contradict Article 16, Part 2 of the Religion Law (which explicitly states that "Worship services, religious rites and ceremonies are carried out without hindrance .. on residential premises") and stating that it requires "significant revision". It is therefore unclear when the State Duma will consider the bill.

The process of banning a community's activities

The procedure of banning a community's activities may begin with an inspection by the local Prosecutor's Office, sometimes in conjunction with other officials, to check "compliance with legislation on freedom of conscience and religious associations", in some cases also anti-extremism legislation and fire safety.

In addition, prosecutors may summon pastors for "conversations" about why they have not submitted notification of the beginning of their religious groups' activities.

(These actions may derive from FSB or police surveillance or internet monitoring, or an earlier administrative prosecution of a church leader or member for "unlawful missionary activity". Missionary-related prosecutions may also follow inspections.)

Prosecutors then lodge an administrative or civil lawsuit at a district court "in the interests of an undefined circle of persons". Prosecutors request that the judge prohibit the community's activities until it submits the required notification (which, on principle, Council of Churches Baptists will not do).

Once a court ruling enters legal force (after one month or upon an unsuccessful appeal), it is subject to enforcement by bailiffs. If they believe a church is continuing to operate, they may issue a fine to the pastor. Ultimately, they may seal the church's building to prevent its use for worship.

Court decisions explicitly prohibit a community's activities not only at the address they habitually use, but also "on the territory of" the town or district. This means that they cannot simply move to different premises.

One district court has stated to Forum 18 that a church would be permitted to resume its activities if it submitted the required notification. It appears, however, that no Council of Churches Baptist community has done this.

Legal context

Lawyers familiar with recent cases of bans on church activities note that there are no clear criteria for the creation of a religious group, that Constitutional Court and Supreme Court rulings have only slightly clarified the situation, and much is still left to the discretion of prosecutors and judges.

The Religion Law requires all unregistered religious associations to notify the authorities (usually regional branches of the Justice Ministry) of their existence and activities. Failure to notify does not constitute a specific offence, although it can be prosecuted under Administrative Code Article 19.5 ("Failure to comply with a legal order (resolution, submission, decision) of a body (official) exercising state supervision (control)".

On 27 December 2016, the Plenum of the Supreme Court issued a resolution partially clarifying the process of prohibiting a religious group's activities.

Point 24 of this resolution states that religious groups' activities may be prohibited if they carry out "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".

Point 26 acknowledges that "the law does not establish a list of gross violations", and therefore it is up to the courts to "assess whether a violation of the law committed by a citizens' association is gross and entails liquidation or prohibition of activities". Gross violations, this paragraph adds, "include those that make it impossible to remedy them by lawful means".

"The impossibility of remedying the violation is a prerequisite for banning its activities", lawyer and freedom of religion or belief advocate Sergey Chugunov pointed out on his Telegram channel on 23 October, in the wake of another community's unsuccessful appeal against a ban. "However, in these cases, courts themselves state in their decisions that activities are prohibited until notification is submitted. Consequently, the violation (even if considered as such) is remediable, meaning the ban is unlawful".

Bans on churches' activities "must be overturned", Chugunov believes. "However, this practice is only growing".

Because the Religion Law sets out no clear criteria, "any joint confession can still be interpreted by law enforcement as the creation of a religious group that has not notified [the Justice Ministry] of its activities", Chugunov wrote on his Telegram channel on 3 November 2022.

Council of Churches Baptists argue that they are individual citizens gathering to worship together as is their constitutional right, without the establishment of any formal association. Prosecutors argue that what they do – meeting regularly, performing "religious rites and ceremonies", sometimes sharing their faith with others – means that they constitute a religious group as defined by the Religion Law.

Lawsuits to ban religious communities' activities are almost always linked to accusations of "unlawful missionary activity". This is apparently both because it can be used as evidence of the de facto existence of a religious group, and because it provides additional grounds for prohibition, given that lack of notification is in itself not enough.

The written authorisation required to conduct 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.

Krasnodar Region: Timashyovsk court bans church's activities

Timashyovsk District Court in Krasnodar Region banned the activities of the Council of Churches Baptist church in the town of Timashyovsk on 13 October 2025. The ban came some four months after Prosecutor's Office officials arrived at the church during a worship meeting to carry out an inspection.

Timashyovsk District Prosecutor's Office conducted its inspection of compliance with "legislation on freedom of conscience, religion, and religious associations", as well as with counter-extremism legislation and fire safety regulations, on 8 June 2025.

"Presbyter Andrey Stepanovich Antonyuk explained to [the officials] that a church service was in progress and, to avoid violations of Article 148 of the Russian Criminal Code ["offending the religious feelings of believers"], they could only conduct an investigation after it had concluded", the Council of Churches Intercession Department stated on 12 June.

After the service, the prosecutor's office officials asked about the pastor's failure to submit notification of his religious group's existence, and took a written statement from him.

Prosecutors then lodged a civil lawsuit on 10 July 2025, seeking "to prohibit the activities of the religious group MSTs EKhB on the territory of the Timashyovsk District municipality, including at the address: 4 Chekhov Street, Timashyovsk, until the violations are corrected, namely, until written notification of the commencement of the religious group's activities", the Intercession Department reported on 26 September.

In the lawsuit, "there are no indications of violations that are significant, gross, repeated, or socially significant, as required by" Resolution No. 64 of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of 27 December 2016, the Intercession Department notes.

Forum 18 asked Timashyovsk District Court on 24 October 2025 why it had upheld the prosecutors' request to prohibit the church's activities, and whether the church would be able to resume operations if it submits notification of its existence. Forum 18 had received no response by the end of 4 November (a public holiday).

Neither Pastor Andrey Antonyuk nor any other member of the church appears to have undergone administrative prosecution for "unlawful missionary activity" in Timashyovsk's magistrates' courts.

Kurganinsk District Court punished under Administrative Article 5.26, Part 4 another pastor at the Timashyovsk church, Nikolay Antonyuk (who has also been chair of the Council of Churches since 2009). The Court fined him 5,000 Roubles for participating in the same 2024 conference in Kurganinsk which led to the prosecution of Kurganinsk pastor Aleksandr Chmykh and the later banning of his church's activities.

Krasnodar Region: Armavir court bans church's activities

On 30 September 2025, Armavir City Court upheld prosecutors' request that the activities of the city's Council of Churches Baptist church be prohibited "until violations are eliminated by sending notification of the commencement of the activities of the religious group to the Office of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation for Krasnodar Region", according to the court ruling, seen by Forum 18.

Armavir City Prosecutor's Office lodged its administrative lawsuit on 18 August 2025, based on its "inspection of compliance with legislation on freedom of conscience and religious associations". The inspection concluded that "this religious group is not registered as such with the [Krasnodar Region] Office of the Justice Ministry. This circumstance violates the rights of an indefinite number of persons and undermines the authority of state bodies".

Pastor Vladimir Popov argued that his church "is a group that does not require mandatory registration", which has "not committed gross violations of the norms of current legislation that entail a ban on carrying out activities, and [that] the prosecutor's office is not permitted to interfere in the activities of a religious association".

According to the court ruling, local Federal Security Service (FSB) operatives observed "the systematic conduct of missionary religious events (approximately 200 people) .. by the Union of Churches of Evangelical Christians-Baptists" at the church's address.

"Therefore", Judge Dmitry Cherninsky noted, "the court concludes that the citizen association at the [church address] operates for purposes related to religious belief and, therefore, constitutes the religious group 'International Union of Churches of Evangelical Christians-Baptists in [Armavir], led by V.Kh. Popov', which has not submitted notification to the Justice Ministry.

Judge Cherninsky also noted that a magistrate's court had found Popov guilty of carrying out missionary activity without a document from a religious association's governing body authorising him to do so, and to parishioners who were not all members of his family.

"Consequently, [Popov] allowed missionary activity to be carried out without submitting notification in writing of the commencement of the activities of the religious group to the [Justice Ministry]."

According to its website, Armavir Magistrate's Court No. 8 (acting on behalf of Magistrate's Court No. 4), fined Popov 5,000 Roubles under Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 4 on 2 July 2021, apparently solely for leading worship in his home.

The same court also issued a 5,000-Rouble fine under the same Article to church member Stanislav Maslenik, on 10 October 2022. He stood accused of sharing information about the church's services at the key-cutting shop where he works, including by having copies of the Baptist newspaper "Do You Believe?" lying on a display case.

Popov also received a fine of 10,000 Roubles under Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 4 on 21 May 2025 at Armavir District Magistrate's Court No. 4. He appealed unsuccessfully Armavir City Court on 15 July 2025, and at the 4th Cassational Court on 15 October 2025.

Judge Cherninsky decided that Popov had "failed to provide evidence demonstrating that the violations committed had been rectified or that they were objectively impossible to rectify", and his objections were "based on an incorrect interpretation of substantive law and do not correspond to the factual circumstances of the case".

"Under these circumstances, the court concludes that the prosecutor's demands to prohibit the administrative defendant's activities are justified until the circumstances that served as the basis for the prohibition are rectified".

Forum 18 asked Armavir City Court on 24 October 2025 why it had upheld the prosecutors' request to prohibit the church's activities, and whether the church would be able to resume operations if it submits notification of its existence. Forum 18 had received no response by the end of 4 November (a public holiday).

Krasnodar Region: Tuapse court bans church's activities

On 22 September 2025, Tuapse City Court ruled that the activities of the Council of Churches Baptist community in Tuapse should be prohibited until it submitted notification of its existence to local Justice Ministry authorities.

Tuapse Inter-District Prosecutor's Office registered its administrative lawsuit on 21 August 2025 – as in other such cases, "on behalf of an undefined circle of persons", according to the court website – after carrying out an inspection of "compliance with legislation on freedom of conscience and religious associations" by the church and its representative, Pastor
Anatoly Mukhin.

According to the written court decision, seen by Forum 18, the local Federal Security Service (FSB) branch informed the Prosecutor's Office on 10 June 2025 of "the systematic conduct of illegal missionary religious events in the building of the House of Prayer located at 62 Bogdan Khmelnitsky Street .. involving residents of Krasnodar Region and neighbouring regions, including minors and missionaries from foreign countries (approximately 200 people)".

The Krasnodar Region Office of the Justice Ministry confirmed on 15 July that it had received no notification of the beginning of the church's activities.

Since the church "practices religious worship", Judge Vitaly Koshevoy noted, "its activities affect the rights of an indefinite number of persons".

"At the time of filing this lawsuit, the violations reflected in the suit have not been corrected", the judge concluded. The church "violates the rights of an indefinite number of persons (whose number is constantly changing) and also violates the interests of the Russian Federation, as the religious group operates in violation of Russian law".

The Tuapse church has been implicated several times in administrative prosecutions for "unlawful missionary activity", according to court records.

Tuapse Magistrate's Court No. 112 first fined Pastor Mukhin 5,000 Roubles on 27 March 2017 for holding a worship service and handing out the newspaper "Do You Believe?" to attendees without having submitted notification of his religious group's activities. He was fined 5,000 Roubles again on 24 July 2024 at Tuapse City Court for sharing his beliefs on the internet, which allegedly resulted in two non-members attending a service. The 4th Cassational Court overturned this ruling on 17 February 2025, however, because cases under Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 4 should be heard in magistrates' courts.

On 19 February 2025, Tuapse Magistrate's Court 112 fined Mukhin and Artashes Melkonyan 5,000 Roubles each for preaching at a worship service attended by a witness who said that a woman at a bus stop had given him a copy of "Do You Believe?" and invited him to the church. On 1 April 2025, Anatoly Dvoranin also received a 5,000-Rouble fine for his involvement in the same service.

On 12 March 2025, Bryukhovetskaya District Magistrate's Court fined Sergey Timoshchuk 5,000 Roubles for having preached by invitation at the Tuapse church. Timoshchuk is a pastor in the Council of Churches Baptist community in the Krasnodar Region village of Bryukhovetsaya, some 250km north of Tuapse.

"During the service on 12 January 2025, two unidentified young men present at the gathering secretly attempted to make audio and video recordings", the Council of Churches Intercession Department stated on 23 March.

Police later visited the church and asked Timoshchuk to write a statement. Timoshchuk "explained that he was preaching in his friends' private home and had spoken exclusively about faith in Jesus Christ, which is permitted by the Russian Constitution", according to the Intercession Department. The police report, however, "unfoundedly stated that he had preached the doctrine of the [Council of Churches Baptists] to D.S. Tyurin and A.V. Kolesnikov, who are not members of this religious group, and also distributed the newspaper 'Do You Believe?'". Timoshchuk denied having spoken to the men or given them newspapers.

Forum 18 asked Tuapse City Court why it had upheld the prosecutors' request to prohibit the church's activities, and whether the church would be able to resume operations if it submits notification of its existence. Forum 18 had received no response by the end of 4 November (a public holiday).

Another church in court: Blagoveshchensk

On 13 November, Blagoveshchensk City Court in the Russian Far East is due to consider a civil lawsuit brought by prosecutors seeking to ban the activities of the Council of Churches Baptist church in the city.

The City Prosecutor's Office, the Amur Region branches of the FSB and National Guard, and Emergencies Ministry personnel carried out an "inspection of the legality of the use of the house of prayer" on 27 May 2025, and prosecutors lodged their civil suit on 11 June.

The court has restarted proceedings twice in order to add third parties to the case (these now include Amur Region Emergencies Ministry, Amur Region FSB, and Amur Region National Guard) on 5 August and 30 September.

Unsuccessful appeals: Krasnodar Region, Mari El Republic

Council of Churches Baptist churches already subject to bans on their activities have repeatedly appealed against the court rulings, invariably unsuccessfully. Once a court decision enters legal force, a church is at risk of being sealed by bailiffs if the community does not cease its activities. So far, only one church – in Kurganinsk – is known to have been sealed.

Belorechensk District Court banned the activities of the Council of Churches Baptist church in the village of Rodniki on Christmas Eve, 24 December 2024. The ruling came into force on 3 April 2025, when Pastor Vladimir Gordiyenko appealed unsuccessfully at Krasnodar Regional Court. On 29 October 2025, the 4th Cassational Court in Krasnodar also upheld the ruling. Church members continue to meet for worship.

On 24 July 2025, Yoshkar-Ola City Court upheld prosecutors' request to have the activities of the city's Council of Churches Baptist church prohibited. The lawsuit named four church members – Viktor Araslanov and Svetlana Araslanova (in whose house the congregation meets), Ferdinand Gayfullin, and Anatoly Chendemerov – as respondents in the case. They appealed unsuccessfully at the Supreme Court of Mari El Republic on 23 October 2025 – the ban is therefore now in force.

The Council of Churches Baptist church in Kurganinsk remains sealed off, and its congregation continues to meet regularly outside the building.

On 29 August 2025, the Russian Supreme Court rejected without consideration Pastor Aleksandr Chmykh's appeal against the ruling banning the church's activities (Kurganinsk District Court issued the original decision on 6 September 2024; Pastor Chmykh challenged this unsuccessfully at Krasnodar Regional Court on 26 November 2024 (after which the decision entered legal force), and again at the 4th Cassational Court on 7 May 2025).

On 15 September 2025, Kurganinsk District Court refused the administrative lawsuit brought by Viktor Kovalev, who owns the church building, against the Kurganinsk bailiffs, attempting to have their actions in sealing the building declared unlawful. Kovalev lodged an appeal against this decision on 9 October, according to the District Court website. (END)

More reports on freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Russia

For background information see Forum 18's Russia religious freedom survey

Forum 18's compilation of Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) freedom of religion or belief commitments

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