In what appears to be a first in the Ukrainian territories Russia has illegally occupied, a court in Luhansk has banned a Council of Churches Baptist community because it meets for worship without registration or notification of its existence. Judge Yevgeniya Lysenko of the Russian-controlled Zhovtnevy District Court upheld the suit brought by the Russian-controlled Prosecutor's Office on 25 August. The suit was brought against the pastor, Nikolai Belovodsky. The Russian-controlled Luhansk Regional Justice Ministry was listed as an "interested party" to the case.

"Brothers and sisters came to support Nikolai," local Baptists noted the following day. "But apart from Nikolai, none of the others was allowed into the courtroom" (see below).

Forum 18 was unable to reach Stanislav Tserenok, Prosecutor of Luhansk's Zhovtnevy District. The telephone at the Prosecutor's Office went unanswered each time Forum 18 called (see below).

Courts have repeatedly fined leaders of such religious communities – and others - for "illegal missionary activity". One Council of Churches Baptist pastor from Luhansk Region, Vladimir Rytikov, faces deportation from occupied Ukraine and Russia after being stripped of his residence permit (see below).

Forum 18 again asked the Russian-controlled Luhansk Human Rights Ombudsperson Anna Soroka in writing about the ban, as well as 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 has received no response (see below).

Russia has imposed in Ukrainian territory it has illegally occupied all the restrictions on freedom of religion or belief that exist in Russia. This includes a ban on Muslims who study the writings of the late Turkish Muslim theologian Said Nursi, and on Jehovah's Witnesses. The Russian-installed Governor of the occupied part of Zaporizhzhia Region, Yevgeny Balitsky, banned four religious communities in December 2022, the Greek Catholic Church and three Protestant churches (see below).

Religious communities with links to communities in government-held Ukraine are also banned in practice. The ban includes communities of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, and even communities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church loyal to the synod in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv (see below).

On 11 June, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg found that Russia (as the country exercising jurisdiction) had violated the rights of four Jehovah's Witness applicants after the Russian-controlled Donetsk Supreme Court banned Jehovah's Witnesses as "extremist" in September 2018. The Court instructed Russia to pay each of the four men 7,500 Euros, plus any tax due, within three months (by 11 September 2026). Russia has not paid the compensation to the four men, Jehovah's Witnesses told Forum 18 (see below).

Forum 18 asked Russia's Justice Ministry in Moscow when Russia will pay the compensation awarded by the ECtHR to the four Jehovah's Witnesses. Forum 18 received no immediate response (see below).

The Russian-installed Governor of the occupied part of Zaporizhzhia Region, Yevgeny Balitsky, announced on 28 July that churches belonging to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) are to be taken from the OCU and handed to the Berdyansk and Primore Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church Moscow Patriarchate. He made the comments in a meeting with Bishop Pyotr (Dmitriyev) (see below).

"Special attention was devoted to the process of handing to the diocese churches which belonged to schismatic structures and which have been empty since 2022," Balitsky announced. "The major, painstaking task lies ahead to restore them and return them to full parish life" (see below).

Forum 18 could not reach Yevgeniya Zaitseva, spokesperson for the Russian occupation Zaporizhzhia Region Administration, as she has blocked calls from Forum 18. Forum 18 sent a written question to Governor Balitsky, asking why places of worship of one community are to be given to another unconnected community. Forum 18 has received no response (see below).

Forum 18 was unable to find out from the Berdyansk and Primore Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church Moscow Patriarchate and its Tomak deanery why it is taking churches from the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (as happened at Easter in Tokmak). Telephones went unanswered each time Forum 18 called (see below).

The Russian occupation authorities have seized numerous places of worship from communities they do not like, claiming that they are "ownerless" (see below).

Meanwhile, courts continue to hear cases against religious leaders for "illegal missionary activity". The Russian-controlled Krasnodon Town Court fined Baptist Pastor Yury Volkov on 21 July. Pastor Volkov's church earlier was a member of the Ukrainian Baptist Union. Pastor Volkov remained in Krasnodon after Russian-backed Luhansk People's Republic took over the town in 2014 (see below).

On 27 July, a Russian-controlled Court in Donetsk fined Council of Churches Baptist pastor Andrey Orlovsky 10,000 Russian Roubles for "illegal missionary activity". The fine represents a week's average local wages. Pastor Orlovsky appealed against the fine. On 3 September, the Russian-controlled Donetsk Supreme Court reduced the fine to 5,000 Russian Roubles. Forum 18 was unable to reach Donetsk City Prosecutor Aleksey Lysenko, whose office brought the case (see below).

Bans and more bans

Before the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the Russian-backed rebels banned a number of religious communities. The Donetsk Supreme Court banned Jehovah's Witnesses as "extremist" in September 2018 (on which four Jehovah's Witnesses won a case at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg – see below). The Donetsk authorities banned three Protestant communities in summer 2021. In March 2019, Russian-backed officials in Luhansk Region ordered all Ukrainian Baptist Union congregations to halt public meetings for worship or face punishment.

After the Russian invasion in February 2022 and the subsequent claimed Russian annexation, Russia imposed in Ukrainian territory it had illegally occupied all the restrictions on freedom of religion or belief that exist in Russia. This includes the ban on Muslims who study the writings of the late Turkish Muslim theologian Said Nursi imposed by Russia's Supreme Court in 2008, and on Jehovah's Witnesses imposed by Russia's Supreme Court in 2017.

On 12 October 2023, Russia also declared the Jehovah's Witness Centre of Ukraine an "undesirable organisation". Those "cooperating" with "undesirable organisations" risk punishment.

The Russian-installed Governor of the occupied part of Zaporizhzhia Region, Yevgeny Balitsky, banned four religious communities in December 2022: the Greek Catholic Church, Grace Protestant Church, Melitopol Christian Church, and Word of Life Protestant Church. (The buildings of Grace, Melitopol Christian, and Word of Life churches had been seized in September 2022.) Occupation Governor Balitsky accused these Churches of links with foreign "special services" and ordered all their property seized.

Religious communities with links to communities in government-held Ukraine are also banned in practice. The ban includes communities of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, and even communities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church loyal to the synod in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.

The OCU was granted autocephaly (independence) by the Ecumenical Patriarch in 2019. The Russian occupation authorities have crushed all the parishes of the OCU in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine.

In addition, the Moscow Patriarchate unilaterally took dioceses away from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (which is historically and ecclesiastically linked to the Moscow Patriarchate) and subjugated them directly to the Russian Patriarch.

The Russian occupation authorities insist that religious communities that want to exist must register under Russian law. Their leaders must have accepted Russian citizenship.

Communities that do not register with the Russian Justice Ministry or notify it of their activity – including Council of Churches Baptists - also risk court-ordered bans. In addition, their leaders – among others - risk prosecution for "illegal missionary activity" under Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 4 or 5.

The Russian occupation authorities have seized numerous places of worship from communities they do not like, claiming that they are "ownerless". Mariupol city administration in Russian-occupied Donetsk Region seized the Church of Good Changes, a Protestant church in Mariupol, in 2024 without compensation and began work turning it into a cinema.

Luhansk: Court bans Council of Churches Baptist community

Courts in 7 Regions of Russia are known to have banned the activity of 12 Council of Churches Baptist communities because they meet for worship without state registration or notification of their existence to the Justice Ministry. Prosecutors argue – as in an August court decision in Saransk – that failure to notify constitutes "a threat to public interests, public order, and national security".

The Russian authorities have now imposed a similar ban, apparently for the first time, in occupied Ukraine.

On 30 April, the Russian-controlled Prosecutor's Office in Luhansk's Zhovtnevy District brought an administrative suit to the Russian-controlled District Court to ban the activity of a local Council of Churches Baptist congregation because it meets for worship without registration or notification of its existence.

The suit was brought against the pastor, Nikolai Belovodsky. The Russian-controlled Luhansk Regional Justice Ministry was listed as an "interested party" to the case. The court assigned the case to Judge Yevgeniya Lysenko.

After several failed hearings due to absence by one or the other party, Judge Lysenko finally heard the suit on 25 August. She upheld the Prosecutor's Office suit to ban the activity of the "religious group", according to court records.

"Brothers and sisters came to support Nikolai," local Baptists noted the following day. "But apart from Nikolai, none of the others was allowed into the courtroom, on the basis that this was a consultation and not a judicial proceeding. In the courtroom they told him directly that this was the final hearing when a decision would be issued. The hearing lasted about an hour, at the end of which a decision was handed down to halt the activity of the religious group. Nikolai expressed his disagreement."

Once it received the decision in writing, the church had one month to appeal to Luhansk Supreme Court. It appears that the church did not appeal.

Forum 18 was unable to reach Stanislav Tserenok, Prosecutor of Luhansk's Zhovtnevy District. The telephone at the Prosecutor's Office went unanswered each time Forum 18 called on 8 October.

On 8 October, Forum 18 again asked the Russian-controlled Luhansk Human Rights Ombudsperson Anna Soroka in writing about the ban, as well as 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 end of the working day locally of 12 October.

Soroka did not respond to earlier similar questions.

ECtHR: Strasbourg finds Russia responsible for 2018 Donetsk Jehovah's Witness ban

The Russian-controlled Donetsk Supreme Court banned Jehovah's Witnesses as "extremist" in September 2018 without any evidence that the community had harmed anyone. In March 2019, four local Jehovah's Witnesses lodged a case against Russia (as the country exercising jurisdiction there) to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg (Application No. 15224/19). The four men complained that the ban violated their rights to freedom of religion or belief and freedom of association.

The ECtHR considered the case as it had been lodged before 16 September 2022, when Russia left its jurisdiction. The court asked Russia for comments in March 2023.

The ECtHR found, in a judgment made public on 11 June 2026, that Russia had violated the human rights of the four Jehovah's Witness applicants. It instructed Russia to pay each of the four men 7,500 Euros, plus any tax due, within three months (by 11 September 2026). Russia has not paid the compensation to the four men, Jehovah's Witnesses told Forum 18 on 12 October.

Forum 18 asked Russia's Justice Ministry in writing on 12 October when Russia will pay the compensation awarded by the ECtHR to the four Jehovah's Witnesses. Forum 18 had received no response by the end of the working day in Moscow of 12 October.

All ECtHR judgments require states to take steps to prevent similar violations from happening – for example, by changing laws and state practices. This process is supervised by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. In March 2022, Russia withdrew from the Council of Europe and the ECtHR after its renewed invasion of Ukraine, and in June 2022 passed legislation which renders all ECtHR judgments which entered legal force since 15 March 2022 unenforceable in Russia.

Zaporizhzhia Region: Governor announces seizure of Orthodox Church of Ukraine churches

The Russian-installed Governor of the occupied part of Zaporizhzhia Region, Yevgeny Balitsky, announced that churches belonging to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) are to be taken from the OCU and handed to the Berdyansk and Primore Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church Moscow Patriarchate. He made the comments on 28 July in a meeting with its Bishop, Pyotr (Dmitriyev).

(In May 2023, the Moscow Patriarchate unilaterally took Berdyansk and Primore Diocese away from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - which is historically and ecclesiastically linked to the Moscow Patriarchate - and subjugated it directly to the Russian Patriarch.)

"Special attention was devoted to the process of handing to the diocese churches which belonged to schismatic structures and which have been empty since 2022," Balitsky announced on his Telegram channel the same day. (The year 2022 was when Russia illegally occupied parts of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia Region.) "The major, painstaking task lies ahead to restore them and return them to full parish life. This is a long-awaited event for many believers."

Forum 18 could not reach Yevgeniya Zaitseva, spokesperson for the Russian occupation Zaporizhzhia Region Administration, as she has blocked calls from Forum 18. Forum 18 sent a written question to Governor Balitsky via his Telegram bot on the morning of 12 October, asking why places of worship of one community are to be given to another unconnected community. Forum 18 had received no response by the end of the working day locally of 12 October.

The telephone of Berdyansk and Primore Russian Orthodox Diocese went unanswered each time Forum 18 called on 12 October.

Tokmak: Russian Orthodox seize Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church

The Donetsk Exarchate of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church condemned the seizure of its Holy Apostles Peter and Paul Church in Tokmak by the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate on Easter Day, 12 April 2026. The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church built the church in 2015 and consecrated it in 2016.

"The Feast of the Resurrection of Christ this year became an occasion for another act of aggression by the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate against the faithful of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in the temporarily occupied territories of the Zaporizhzhia Region," the Exarchate declared on 16 April.

"The clergy of the Moscow Patriarchate committed the crime of theft by arbitrarily seizing the church", the Exarchate statement complained, "and forbidding local believers to pray there."

The Exarchate added: "Of particular indignation is the fact that local parishioners are forbidden from coming to their native Church, while outsiders demonstratively act as 'parishioners'. This once again confirms the systematic and targeted nature of religious persecution in the occupied territories, where the right to freedom of conscience and religion is grossly violated."

The telephone of Berdyansk and Primore Russian Orthodox Diocese went unanswered each time Forum 18 called on 12 October.

The Russian Orthodox diocese of Skadovsk – which the Moscow Patriarchate unilaterally established in Russian-occupied parts of Kherson Region in December 2023 – took over a Ukrainian Greek Catholic church in the village of Oleksandrivka. In April 2024, the dean of Skadovsk District Archpriest Nikolai Kanyuka conducted the consecration of the church as a Russian Orthodox church.

Krasnodon: Another Baptist pastor punished for "missionary activity"

On 17 July, Russian officials brought a case against Pastor Yury Volkov of a Baptist Church in Krasnodon [official Ukrainian name Sorokyne] under Russian Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 5 ("Foreigners conducting missionary activity"). Under this Article, foreign citizens can be fined 30,000 to 50,000 Roubles and may also be expelled from the country. Officials handed the case to the Russian-controlled Krasnodon Town Court on 21 July.

That same day, Judge Marina Lukinova found Pastor Volkov guilty and fined him, according to court records. She does not appear to have ordered his deportation. Pastor Volkov does not appear to have appealed against the punishment.

Pastor Volkov's church earlier was a member of the Ukrainian Baptist Union. Pastor Volkov remained in Krasnodon after Russian-backed Luhansk People's Republic took over the town in 2014.

Russian officials have repeatedly raided another Baptist community in Krasnodon, of the Council of Churches. This congregation meets for worship without Russian registration or notification. The court has repeatedly fined the pastor, Vladimir Rytikov. He is now preparing an appeal against the decision to strip him of his residence permit. He faces deportation from all Russian-controlled territory (Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine and Russia itself).

Donetsk: Another Council of Churches Baptist pastor fined for "missionary activity"

The Russian-controlled City Prosecutor's Office in Donetsk brought a case against Council of Churches Baptist pastor Andrey Orlovsky under Russian Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 4 ("Russians conducting missionary activity") for leading his unregistered congregation. On 25 June, it handed the case to Donetsk's Russian-controlled Budennovsk Inter-District Court.

On 27 July, Judge Dmitry Karabanov found Pastor Orlovsky guilty, according to court records. He fined him 10,000 Russian Roubles. The fine represents a week's average local wages.

Pastor Orlovsky appealed against the fine. On 3 September, the Russian-controlled Donetsk Supreme Court reduced the fine to 5,000 Russian Roubles. He has lodged a further appeal, which reached the Second Cassational Court, which is based in the Russian capital Moscow, on 5 October, according to court records. No hearing date is yet listed.

Forum 18 was unable to reach Donetsk City Prosecutor Aleksey Lysenko. Forum 18 asked the duty official at the Prosecutor's Office on 8 October why prosecutors are bringing cases to punish individuals for exercising freedom of religion or belief, such as Pastor Orlovsky. "I can't say anything about this," she responded. She then put the phone down.

Novoaydar: Court sends back "missionary activity" case

Russian officials brought a case against Aleksey Skubko under Russian Administrative Code Article 5.26, Part 4 ("Russians conducting missionary activity"). The case reached the Russian-controlled Novoaydar District Court in Luhansk Region on 10 July. The same day it was assigned to Judge Sergey Nalyotov. He sent the case back as the record of an offence had not been correctly completed, according to court records. (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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