On 24 March, Gagarin District Court in the capital Moscow convicted exiled Orthodox journalist Kseniya Luchenko for a Telegram post in which she condemned a Russian missile strike on a Kyiv children's hospital in July 2024, and contrasted this with the Russian state and Moscow Patriarchate's promotion of so-called "traditional values". The judge sentenced her in absentia to 8 years' imprisonment.

Forum 18 asked Gagarin District Court why the judge had handed down a custodial sentence, and what consequences the court envisaged for Luchenko, given that she remains outside Russia. Forum 18 has received no reply (see below).

Luchenko and her lawyers lodged an appeal on 6 April, but the Moscow court system's online portal has not yet listed any appeal hearings (see below).

Before her criminal trial, officials had had Luchenko's name added to the Interior Ministry's Federal Wanted List, the Federal Financial Monitoring Service (Rosfinmonitoring) "List of Terrorists and Extremists", and the Justice Ministry's register of "foreign agents" (see below).

Although Luchenko left Russia in 2022, these measures – and now her criminal conviction – could nevertheless carry consequences. These include the risk of extradition if she travels to any state with a bilateral extradition agreement with Russia, and possible problems with banking in Western countries as a result of being placed on the Rosfinmonitoring List (see below).

The re-trial of a Buddhist leader on charges of disseminating false information about the Russian Armed Forces is due to conclude in a Moscow court by the end of April. Ilya Vasilyev's initial conviction and 8-year prison sentence was overturned on a technicality in October 2025. He has been appearing before a new judge at Preobrazhensky District Court, but there has been "nothing really new" in the proceedings, his lawyer told Forum 18. Vasilyev remains in detention at the capital's Matrosskaya Tishina prison, almost two years after his arrest (see forthcoming F18News article).

On 27 March 2026, the Russian Justice Ministry added the Christians Against War project to its register of "foreign agents" for allegedly disseminating "false information about the decisions and policies of Russian government bodies, as well as about the Russian Orthodox Church". Christians Against War was established shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 in order to document the persecution of religious believers who oppose the war in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Russian-occupied Ukraine (see below).

Criminal, administrative convictions for opposing war on religious grounds

Since February 2022, courts have sentenced five people to imprisonment (including Kseniya Luchenko in absentia) and fined three on criminal charges for opposing Russia's war against Ukraine in religious terms or on religious grounds. Investigators have also opened three criminal cases against other people who have left Russia and placed them on the Federal Wanted List.

Protestant pastor Nikolay Romanyuk was handed a 4-year prison term in September 2025 under Criminal Code Article 280.4 ("Public calls to implement activities directed against the security of the Russian Federation, or to obstruct the exercise by government bodies and their officials of their powers to ensure the security of the Russian Federation"). He is now serving his sentence in Vladimir Region, his daughter Svetlana Zhukova stated on her Telegram channel on 18 April.

Pastor Romanyuk's prison address is: 601443, g. Vyazniki, ul. Zheleznodorozhnaya 37, FKU Ispravitelnaya koloniya - 4 UFSIN Rossii po Vladimirskoy oblasti

Individuals also continue to face prosecution under Administrative Code Article 20.3.3 ("Public actions aimed at discrediting the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation") for opposing the war in Ukraine from a religious perspective.

Most recently, Slavyansk City Court in Krasnodar Region fined independent Orthodox priest Fr Iona Sigida 40,000 Roubles under Administrative Code Article 20.3.3, Part 1 in December 2025. Police had based the case against Fr Iona on an article on his church's website in which he wrote "Today, on the night of 23-24 February [2022], the newly revealed antichrist, the embodiment of the devil, V. Putin, sent his army to destroy the last unconquered holy Rus' in the person of Ukraine".

(Fr Iona remains under investigation for a possibly related offence of "overt disrespect for society about days of military glory" (Criminal Code Article 354.1, Part 4), apparently also for articles he posted on the website of the Holy Intercession Tikhonite Church in Slavyansk-na-Kubani. On 16 April, a judge released him from house arrest, but he is still barred from using the telephone and internet.)

Ever-increasing internet censorship has seen websites and materials blocked for: "extremist" content; opposition to Russia's war against Ukraine from a religious perspective; material supporting LGBT+ people in religious communities; Ukraine-based religious websites; social media of prosecuted individuals; and news and NGO sites which include coverage of freedom of religion or belief violations.

The Justice Ministry has also added at least 14 religious leaders and activists to its register of "foreign agents", largely for reasons related to their opposition to Russia's invasion of Ukraine:

- Erdni-Basan Ombadykov, Buddhist leader – added 27 January 2023; now living outside Russia;

- Pinchas Goldschmidt, former Chief Rabbi of Moscow – added 30 June 2023; now living outside Russia;

- Andrey Vyacheslavovich Kurayev, Orthodox deacon – added 22 December 2023; now living outside Russia;

- Sergey Nikolayevich Stepanov, Baptist preacher and journalist – added 2 February 2024; now living outside Russia;

- Albert Viktorovich Ratkin, Protestant pastor – added 14 June 2024; still living in Russia;

- Grigory Aleksandrovich Mikhnov-Vaytenko, Archbishop of independent Apostolic Orthodox Church – added 19 July 2024; still living in Russia;

- Nina Aleksandrovna Belyayeva, former municipal deputy and Baptist – added 13 September 2024; now living outside Russia;

- Andrey Genriyevich Lvov, former Moscow Patriarchate priest, now serving in the Apostolic Orthodox Church – added 27 December 2024; now living outside Russia;

- Kseniya Valeryevna Luchenko, Orthodox journalist (see below) – added 16 May 2025; now living outside Russia;

- Aleksandr Vladimirovich Khmelyov, Old Catholic priest and LGBT+ activist – added 20 June 2025; now living outside Russia;

- Ioann [Dmitry] Valeryevich Kurmoyarov, former Moscow Patriarchate priest, now serving in a branch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia [ROCOR] not in communion with the Moscow Patriarchate – added on 15 August 2025;

- Andrey Borisovich Kordochkin, former Moscow Patriarchate priest, now serving in the Ecumenical Patriarchate – added on 22 August 2025;

- Kirill Nikolayevich Govorun, former Moscow Patriarchate Archimandrite – added on 5 September 2025; now living outside Russia;

- Pavel Dmitriyevich Zayakin, pastor of Estonian Evangelical-Lutheran Church – added on 21 November 2025; now living outside Russia.

Moscow: Exiled Orthodox journalist convicted

On 24 March, Orthodox journalist Kseniya Valeryevna Luchenko (born 13 June 1979) became the first person to be convicted in absentia for criticising Russia's war in Ukraine from a religious perspective. Judge Yekaterina Kuzmina of Moscow's Gagarin District Court sentenced her to 8 years' imprisonment, plus a 4-year ban on "activities related to website administration using electronic and information and telecommunication networks, including the Internet", for condemning a Russian missile strike on a Ukrainian children's hospital.

As Luchenko lives outside Russia, the verdict cannot be enforced, but – along with being added to Russian Interior Ministry's international wanted list – it puts her at risk of arrest and extradition if she travels to any country with bilateral extradition agreements with Russia.

Prosecutors had requested a prison sentence of 8 years and 6 months under Criminal Code Article 207.3 ("Public dissemination of knowingly false information about the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation"), Part 2, Paragraph d ("for reasons of political, ideological, racial, national or religious hatred or enmity, or for reasons of hatred or enmity against any social group").

Both this and the actual sentence imposed lie towards the upper end of the range of possible punishments for this offence, which include a fine of 3 million to 5 million Roubles, up to 5 years' assigned labour (prinuditelniye raboty) plus "deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for up to 5 years", or 5 to 10 years' imprisonment followed by the same ban on activities.

Luchenko and her lawyers lodged an appeal on 6 April, but the Moscow court system's online portal has not yet listed any appeal hearings.

Luchenko has consistently opposed Russia's war against Ukraine and has written critically about the Moscow Patriarchate's active support for it, including on her Telegram channel, Orthodoxy and Zombies, which provides independent news and comment on the Russian Orthodox Church and supports priests who have opposed the war.

Investigators opened the criminal case against Luchenko in September 2025, based on a post on Orthodoxy and Zombies from 8 July 2024, and a repost of the same text on the website of independent media outlet Ekho Moskvy on the same day.

The post reads: "The Russian Orthodox state [Rossiyskoye pravoslavnoye gosudarstvo] celebrated 'The Day of Family, Love, and Fidelity', by striking a children's hospital in Kyiv with a missile.

"And in Russia, a 'Family Parade' is underway. It began over the weekend, but is taking place today in most cities. With daisies and the flags of the World Congress of the Russian People. And with the active participation of dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church. They celebrate the festive liturgy, then march in this ersatz procession of the cross [krestniy khod], singing troparia [hymns], and then presenting medals to large families, while bombs are falling on Ukrainian children. These are the 'values of Holy Rus'".

On the morning of 8 July 2024, a Russian missile had hit the Okhmatdyt children's hospital in Kyiv, injuring ten children and destroying or severely damaging several departments.

In 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree designating 8 July "The Day of Family, Love, and Fidelity", "in order to preserve traditional family values and the spiritual-moral education of children and youth".

Asked in November 2025 why Luchenko was facing criminal investigation, an official at the office in Moscow responsible for the criminal case told Forum 18: "Come into the office and we can tell you." Told that Forum 18 is based outside Russia, the official (who did not give his name) put the phone down.

Forum 18 put the same question in writing to the Federal Investigative Committee's press service in November 2025, and asked whether Luchenko would be tried in absentia. Forum 18 received no response.

Forum 18 wrote to Moscow's Gagarin District Court on 15 April 2026 to ask why the judge had handed down a custodial sentence, and what consequences the court envisaged for Luchenko, given that she remains outside Russia. Forum 18 had received no reply by the end of the working day in Moscow of 23 April.

"I do not repudiate a single word I said"

On 24 March, the day of her sentencing, Kseniya Luchenko wrote on Orthodoxy and Zombies that she does not plan to close the channel. She posted a statement of her position on the criminal prosecution, which she said the court had refused to add to the case materials, "although I had the right to send it".

"For my whole life I have worked as a journalist, engaged in media education, taught media literacy and critical thinking to students and schoolchildren," Luchenko insisted. "The verification of information is my profession. I am convinced of the veracity and quality of the information which I publish on my Telegram channel and in other media.

"As the linguistic expert analysis concluded, I really did characterise the actions of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation as 'violent, associated with the deaths of people, including children, and destruction of civilian infrastructure'. And this is the truth, a monstrous reality, which does not turn into a fake just because it is denied by Russian Foreign Ministry representative Mariya Zakharova, whose statements are included in my case.

"I do not plead guilty, I have never disseminated false information, I do not repudiate a single word I said."

The South-West Administrative District Prosecutor's Office issued a statement on Luchenko's case on 24 March 2026.

"It has been established," the statement read, "that Luchenko, while located outside the Russian Federation, publicly posted – on a website as well as on a channel within a messaging service personally administered by her – materials containing deliberately false information regarding the actions of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation against the civilian population during the special military operation, presented under the guise of credible information."

Possible consequences even without return to Russia

On 16 May 2025, the Justice Ministry added Kseniya Luchenko to its register of "foreign agents".

On 17 October 2025, during the criminal investigation, investigators had Luchenko's name added to the Federal Financial Monitoring Service (Rosfinmonitoring) "List of Terrorists and Extremists", whose assets banks are obliged to freeze (although small transactions are permitted).

The Interior Ministry has also placed Luchenko on its Federal Wanted List. She is among at least 45 individuals on Russia's Federal Wanted List wanted for exercising freedom of religion or belief by Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Although Luchenko left Russia in April 2022, Cheryomushki District Court in Moscow issued a detention order for her in absentia on 24 November 2025. Moscow City Court upheld this decision on 23 December 2025. This would have seen her immediately arrested should she have returned to Russia (or travelled to Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, or Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine), even before her conviction.

Apart from the guarantee of imprisonment should she return to Russia, these state measures may also have other consequences for Luchenko. Because of both her "foreign agent" status and being added to the Rosfinmonitoring List, books and articles Luchenko has published since her inclusion on these lists – many of them on recent developments in the Russian Orthodox Church – are generally unavailable in Russian shops and libraries. Library catalogues and online sales listings mark her as a "foreign agent".

Inclusion on the Rosfinmonitoring List may also mean problems with banking abroad, as Western banks still use information from Rosfinmonitoring to decide whether or not to block Russian citizens' accounts, or allow them to open new ones.

Christians Against War named "foreign agent"

On 27 March, the Russian Justice Ministry added the Christians Against War project to its register of "foreign agents" at No. 1173.

The project publishes information on its website and Telegram channel, as well as other social media, about religious believers persecuted by both state and church authorities in Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan for their opposition to the war, about the repression of religious believers and communities in Russian-occupied Ukraine, and about the destruction of Ukrainian religious buildings in Russian attacks.

Christians Against War also criticises the actions of the Russian government and of the Moscow Patriarchate and other major religious bodies in Russia in relation to the war.

"The 'Christians Against War' project disseminated false information about the decisions and policies of Russian government bodies, as well as about the Russian Orthodox Church", the Justice Ministry stated in its announcement of additions to the registry on 27 March.

"It opposed the special military operation in Ukraine," the announcement declared. "It participated in disseminating messages and materials from foreign agents to the general public, as well as messages and materials from organisations included in the list of foreign and international organisations whose activities are deemed undesirable in the Russian Federation."

Entry No. 1173 on the "foreign agents" register also lists the website and various social media accounts of Christians Against War, and names "participants" Dmitry Koneyenko and Natallia Vasilevich (both Belarusian citizens).

Russia's Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology, and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor) has blocked the Christians Against War website inside Russia since 9 September 2023.

Christians Against War was established shortly after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, by activists of Christian Vision, a Belarusian ecumenical organisation founded in 2020.

On its main website, Christian Vision lists the aims of Christians Against War as "cooperation with Ukrainian Christians and churches, as well as with Russian anti-war Christian activists for promoting a just peace, stopping Russian aggression against Ukraine, formulating a common Christian position about war and anti-war activities, documenting the reactions of churches and church leaders to the war, monitoring persecutions for anti-war and pro-Ukrainian views, [and] assisting the Christians who suffered from such persecution". (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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