On 17 July, the Russian-controlled Krasnodon Town Court rejected Council of Churches Baptist Pastor Vladimir Rytikov's suit to overturn the annulling of his residence permit by the Russian-controlled Luhansk Interior Ministry's Migration Service. It annulled the residence permit, thereby requiring his departure, in February at the instigation of the Russian FSB. "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'."

Without Russian citizenship and without a Russian residence permit, Pastor Rytikov's presence in occupied Luhansk Region would be illegal. If he fails to leave voluntarily, he would be deported from all Russian-controlled territory, both Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine and Russia itself. He intends to appeal to Luhansk Supreme Court once the written decision is issued (see below).

The listed number for the Russian FSB in Luhansk did not connect each time Forum 18 tried to call. 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 (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).

Pastor Rytikov was born in Krasnodon in Soviet Ukraine in 1959. Apart from three years in a Soviet prison as a religious prisoner of conscience, he has lived in Krasnodon (now in Russian-occupied Luhansk Region) his entire life. His wife, children and grandchildren live there. He has led the local Council of Churches Baptist church since 1990. "My desire is to serve the Lord here, in this place," Pastor Rytikov insists (see below).

"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," Pastor Rytikov added. "Each year there have been two or three court cases, and many fines." Officials have seized documents for his house (where the church meets) and land and will not return them. Russian officials stopped his and his wife's pensions in early 2025 (see below).

Russian officials have conducted many other raids on meetings for worship. On 26 April, about 15 officials from the Russian Anti-extremism police and Khartsyzk Prosecutor's Office raided the Sunday worship meeting of the Council of Churches Baptists in the town of Khartsyzk in Russian-occupied Donetsk Region. In two separate cases in May and June, Khartsyzk Inter-District Court found Pastor Oleg Stroyev guilty of "illegal missionary activity" and fined him the equivalent of a month's average local wages (see below).

Russian officials have similarly raided Council of Churches Baptist communities in Luhansk, Krasny Luch and two in Donetsk. Fines on church leaders have often followed (see below).

Forum 18 reached an official of the Russian-controlled Donetsk Human Rights Ombudsperson Darya Morozova. As soon as Forum 18 asked about the raids on worship meetings and subsequent fines, the official – who did not give her name - put the phone down. Subsequent calls went unanswered (see below).

Even pro-Russian activists risk prosecution for violating Russia's strict controls on the exercise of freedom of religion or belief in parts of Ukraine it occupies.

On 19 May, Russian officials found the 73-year-old Aleksandr Petutin conducting "missionary activity" in his home in Khartsyzk in violation of Russia's Religion Law in a "self-built construction in the form of a church". The chapel was "furnished with icons, books, an altar, and candles, and contains priestly vestments and in which services were held according to the canons of the Orthodox church". The chapel also contained a religious picture, identified as an icon of the Donetsk Mother of God. On 18 June, a court fined Petutin about ten days' average wages (see below).

Petutin – who is not an Orthodox priest - took the Donetsk Mother of God image to the Russian side of the frontline in Ukraine from 2016, as well as to various locations in Russia. The image "is there where blood flows and ordinary people are suffering", a local journalist wrote (see below).

Russia's serious violations of freedom of religion or belief in occupied Ukraine

Russia seriously violates freedom of religion or belief and interlinked human 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), UN Secretary-General António Guterres repeated earlier UN calls for Russia to respect 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.

"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. "Religious groups in 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 report on the human rights situation in Ukraine, covering 1 June – 30 November 2025, 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 impose 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.

Religious communities registered under Russian law can face fines under Russian Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 3 if they fail to display their full legal name on their place of worship, any item of literature used in the community or any media post.

Russian-controlled courts in Donetsk Region are known to have fined four religious communities in 2025 under this provision.

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 later rehabilitated. (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.

Krasnodon: 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 in the church 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 for "illegal 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.

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.

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 24 July.

On 9 March, officials handed Pastor Rytikov a summons from acting head of Krasnodon Police Lieutenant Colonel 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".

Krasnodon: 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. They told him 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.

"My telephone is surveilled and listened to," Pastor Rytikov added.

Krasnodon: Pastor "advocates for the violent change of the foundations of the constitutional order"?

On 23 March, Migration Service officials in Krasnodon handed Pastor Vladimir Rytikov a document confirming that Luhansk Interior Ministry branch 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".

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.

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.

Krasnodon: Pastor's court challenge rejected

Pastor Vladimir Rytikov brought a civil administrative suit against the Russian Interior Ministry's Luhansk branch to Krasnodon Town Court "to recognise as illegal and to cancel the decision to annul the residence permit", according to court records. The court set a hearing for 9 April under Judge Yekaterina Pridatko. "This is the Thursday before Easter," Pastor Rytikov noted on 2 April. "I recalled that it was on this Thursday that our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ was tried, an interesting coincidence."

About 50 church members gathered at the court to support Pastor Rytikov at the 9 April hearing. However, the court secretary ordered them to disperse. Only Pastor Rytikov was allowed into the court for the hearing. Even his wife Lyudmila was denied entry, the church noted that day. As no Migration Service officials arrived, the court adjourned the case to 28 April. Church members then went to the church building for a Maundy Thursday communion service.

About 40 church members came to Krasnodon Town Court to support Pastor Rytikov on 28 April. Court officials let in only Pastor Rytikov.

"The Interior Ministry representative handed over a 9-page accusation of missionary activity as a reason to deport Vladimir Rytikov from the country," church members noted after the hearing. "The hearing was preliminary, to hand over and see the accusation." The court set the next hearing for 20 May.

At the 20 May hearing, "Interior Ministry representatives presented two volumes of case materials," Pastor Rytikov noted the same day. "But they did not give the reason for the deportation. It is expected that at the next hearing, FSB representatives will explain the reason for this decision."

A further hearing was held on 19 June. Then at a 1 July hearing, church members noted, the court told Pastor Rytikov that on 17 July, "in a closed court hearing, at which even his wife will not be able to be present, only the lawyer, the reasons for the expulsion – deportation – will be read out".

At the final hearing on 17 July, Judge Pridatko rejected Pastor Rytikov's suit "in its 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 written decision is not expected until 27 July, church members told Forum 18. Pastor Rytikov intends to appeal to Luhansk Supreme Court once the written decision is issued.

Krasnodon: "My desire is to serve the Lord here, in this place"

Krasnodon Town Court revealed during the 17 July hearing that it had received many letters of support for Pastor Vladimir Rytikov from various churches. "The volume of these letters was three times that of the administrative case file itself," church members said. Pastor Rytikov was heartened that a 94-year-old church member, described as a "dear sister", was among those present outside the court building during successive hearings to support him.

"My desire is to serve the Lord here, in this place," Pastor Rytikov insists. "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 22 and 23 July.

The telephone at Krasnodon's Russian-controlled Police went unanswered each time Forum 18 called on 22 and 23 July.

On 24 March, Forum 18 asked Daniil Styazhkin, chief of staff of 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 Soroka was preparing to take (if any) in the case. Styazhkin told Forum 18 that he would respond. However, it had received no response by the middle of the working day locally of 24 July. He did not answer his phone on 22 and 23 July.

On 23 July, Forum 18 repeated its questions on Pastor Rytikov to Ombudsperson Anna Soroka in writing. Again, Forum 18 had received no response by the middle of the working day locally of 24 July.

Khartsyzsk: Anti-extremism police, prosecutors raid Sunday worship meeting

On 26 April, about 15 officials from the Russian Anti-extremism police and Khartsyzk Prosecutor's Office raided the Sunday worship meeting of the Council of Churches Baptists in the town of Khartsyzk in Russian-occupied Donetsk Region, the church noted the same day.

The officials did not halt the worship meeting but filmed and photographed those present. After the meeting ended, they questioned several of those present. They also seized religious literature.

Officials ordered the church's pastor, Oleg Stroyev, to visit the Prosecutor's Office the following day to face charges of "illegal missionary activity".

On 29 April, Prosecutor Dmitry Soglasov drew up two records of an offence against Pastor Stroyev under Russian Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 4 ("Russians conducting missionary activity"). He accused the Pastor of "systematically organising gatherings of people and conducting missionary activity". Prosecutor Soglasov handed both cases to the Russian-controlled Khartsyzk Inter-District Court.

Church members complained that the Prosecutor was bringing two cases "in relation to one and the same event". They pointed to Russian Administrative Code Article 4.1, Part 5, which states: "No one can be brought to administrative responsibility twice for one and the same administrative violation."

Church members also complained that the record of the raid "contained no information about specific individuals Oleg Stroyev could have attracted into the participants of any religious association at the time the inspection was conducted".

On 26 May, in the first case, Judge Alina Tsvetkova of Khartsyzk Inter-District Court found Pastor Stroyev guilty and fined him 20,000 Russian Roubles, according to court records. On 16 June, in the second case, Judge Valery Malchenko found him guilty and again fined him 20,000 Russian Roubles. Added together, the fines represent the equivalent of a month's average local wages.

Pastor Stroyev has now been fined three times in 2026. Following a 23 December 2025 raid on the church, the court fined him 10,000 Russian Roubles on 9 February on charges of "illegal missionary activity". He did not appeal against that decision.

Officials at Khartsyzk Prosecutor's Office did not answer the phone each time Forum 18 called on 22 July.

On 22 July, Forum 18 reached an official of the Russian-controlled Donetsk Human Rights Ombudsperson Darya Morozova. As soon as Forum 18 asked about the raids on worship meetings and subsequent fines, the official – who did not give her name - put the phone down. Subsequent calls went unanswered.

Luhansk: Officials visit church

On 24 May, officials from the Russian Police's Anti-Extremism and Anti-Terrorism Centre, accompanied by the local police officer, visited the Council of Churches Baptist congregation in the city of Luhansk during its Sunday worship meeting.

Officials "did not interrupt the service", church members noted. "When the service finished they took statements from church members". They added: "The reason for the visit was a statement to the Prosecutor's Office from the mother of an adult young female church member that her daughter had been inveigled into a sect." Church members explained to the officials that people attend services and become church members voluntarily.

Krasny Luch: Supreme Court rejects pastor's appeal

Russian Interior Ministry's 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.

Krasny Luch Police brought a case against Pastor Anatoly Krutik under Russian Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 4 for conducting an "illegal" worship service. On 10 March 2026, Russian-controlled Krasny Luch Town Court found Pastor Krutik guilty and fined him 5,000 Russian Roubles.

Pastor Krutik's appeal reached Luhansk Supreme Court on 23 March. On 29 April, Judge Olga Bondarenko rejected his appeal, leaving the fine unchanged, according to court records.

On 23 July, Forum 18 asked the Russian-controlled Luhansk Human Rights Ombudsperson Anna Soroka in writing about officials' frequent raids on worship meetings and subsequent fines. Forum 18 asked what action Soroka was preparing to take (if any) to defend local residents' rights to freedom of religion or belief. Forum 18 had received no response by the middle of the working day locally of 24 July.

Donetsk: Raid on worship meeting, fine follows

A court in the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk has again fined Pastor Vladimir Rudomyotkin several days' average local wage for alleged missionary activity. His Council of Churches Baptist congregation meets in the city's Budennovsk District without seeking permission from officials.

The Police's Anti-Extremism officers raided the church during Sunday morning worship as part of what they called "operational-investigative measures". Officers took statements from Pastor Rudomyotkin and other church members. They also seized religious literature.

After reviewing their report, the prosecutor brought cases against Pastor Rudomyotkin and another church member Yevgeny Prokofyev and sent them on 9 June to the Russian-controlled Budennovsk Inter-District Court.

Pastor Rudomyotkin asked for his case to be heard in his absence. On 24 June, Judge Yuliya Svintsova fined him 5,000 Russian Roubles under Russian Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 4 ("Russians conducting missionary activity"), according to the decision seen by Forum 18. She said it was "necessary" to hand down a punishment to "warn Rudomyotkin against carrying out further offences".

"Execution of the punishment related to the confiscated seized literature and printed materials is to be handed to the Bailiffs' Department," the court decision adds.

On 16 June, Judge Yuliya Antonova found Prokofyev guilty under Russian Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 4, according to court records. She fined him 5,000 Russian Roubles.

The same court fined Pastor Rudomyotkin 5,000 Russian Roubles for alleged missionary activity on 23 May 2025.

Donetsk: Officials raid worship meeting, administrative cases follow

On 31 May, Russian officials raided the Sunday morning worship meeting of a Council of Churches Baptist congregation in Kirov District of the occupied city of Donetsk. The record of an offence, prepared on 5 June, described it as "an event aimed at spreading the teachings of the Evangelical Christians/Baptists with violations of the established provisions of [Russia's Religion Law]".

Pastor Nikolai Yarovoi told the subsequent court hearing that he led the worship meeting, which was attended by up to 30 people, including children. He said that religious literature, including a newspaper, was available for those that wanted it.

On 11 June, a Prosecutor handed cases against Pastor Yarovoi and also Timofei Bondarenko under Russian Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 4 ("Russians conducting missionary activity") to the Russian-controlled Kirov Inter-District Court.

On 30 June, Judge Mariya RIzak found Pastor Yarovoi guilty and fined him 5,000 Russian Roubles, according to the decision seen by Forum 18.

On 16 June, at Bondarenko's request, Judge RIzak passed his case to the court where he lives, the Russian-controlled Horlivka Town Court. Judge Grigory Fedko was due to hear the case on 21 July.

Mariupol: Further fine for leading unapproved worship meetings

Officials in Mariupol in Russian-occupied Donetsk Region brought a further case against Council of Churches Baptist Pastor Leonid Ponomaryov under Russian Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 4 ("Russians conducting missionary activity") for leading his unregistered congregation.

Prosecutors handed a case against Pastor Ponomaryov to the city's Russian-controlled Ilichev District Court on 19 March. On 15 April, Judge Yelena Markova found him guilty and fined him, according to court records.

Russian officials earlier punished Pastor Ponomaryov for leading his unregistered congregation. In late 2022, they held him and his wife Tatyana for a month. In February 2025, Prosecutors handed a case against him to court under Russian Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 4. Mariupol's Ilichev District Court fined Pastor Ponomaryov 5,000 Russian Roubles.

Donetsk: Fine for "missionary activity"

On 27 April, Prosecutors handed a case to the Russian-controlled Voroshilov District Court in Donetsk against Farkhod Muradov. He was accused of violating Russian Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 4 ("Russians conducting missionary activity").

On 21 May, Judge Yevgeny Krupichko found Muradov guilty and fined him, according to court records.

Novoderkul: "Missionary activity" charges dropped

Prosecutors brought charges under Russian Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 4 ("Russians conducting missionary activity") against Council of Churches Baptist Maksim Pechenika in the town of Novoderkul in Russian-occupied Luhansk Region. However, the charges were later dropped, church members noted on 2 May.

Court fines pro-Russian activist for "illegal" chapel

Even pro-Russian activists risk prosecution for violating Russia's strict controls on the exercise of freedom of religion or belief in parts of Ukraine it occupies.

On 19 May, Russian officials found the 73-year-old Aleksandr Petutin conducting "missionary activity" in violation of Russia's Religion Law in a "self-built construction in the form of a church". The chapel was "furnished with icons, books, an altar, and candles, and contains priestly vestments and in which services were held according to the canons of the Orthodox church", according to the subsequent court decision seen by Forum 18.

The chapel also contained a religious picture, identified as an icon of the Donetsk Mother of God. An analysis by the Donetsk Republic Art Museum noted that it was painted by a contemporary artist and "represents no cultural, historical, museum or antiquarian value".

Khartsyzk Prosecutor's Office brought the case against Petutin for "illegal missionary activity" on 28 May.

On 18 June, Judge Yelena Kobzy of the Russian-controlled Khartsyzk Inter-District Court found Petutin guilty of violating Russian Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 4 ("Russians conducting missionary activity"). She fined him 15,000 Russian Roubles (about 10 days' average local wage), according to the decision. In court, N. Yeremenko of Khartsyzk Prosecutor's Office supported the punishment.

Petutin is not a priest of the Moscow Patriarchate or of any other known Orthodox jurisdiction.

Petutin told the court that anyone could come into his church and pray. He said he had not notified the Russian authorities of the existence of his religious group (as Russian law requires).

The Donetsk Mother of God image was painted by a St Petersburg art student in 2015. Petutin – who had fought against Ukrainian forces in 2014-16 – acquired the image. He then took it to the Russian side of the frontline in Ukraine from 2016, as well as to various locations in Russia. Social media posts show him transporting the image in the back of a car.

The image "is there where blood flows and ordinary people are suffering", a local journalist noted on 22 February 2026. "Where the icon is taken to the frontline, a prayer service starts, and afterwards the shelling always goes quiet," the journalist quoted one eyewitness as recounting.

"A certain mystical link between the guardian and the Image has developed which is incomprehensible and unfathomable for those around," the journalist claimed. (END)

More reports on freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Occupied Ukraine

For background information, see Forum 18's Occupied Ukraine religious freedom survey

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