The right to believe, to worship and witness
The right to change one’s belief or religion
The right to join together and express one’s belief
4 May 2026
BELARUS: Regime official denies permission for 3 more Catholic priests to remain
Plenipotentiary for Religious and Ethnic Affairs Aleksandr Rumak denied permission to Vitebsk Catholic Diocese for three Polish Catholic priests to continue service. Fr Zenon Szcząchor has been serving in Belarus since 1990. Rumak unilaterally decides without giving reasons whether registered religious organisations can have foreign clergy. His deputy, Sergei Gerasimenya, refused to explain the enforced departures. Arrested in March, 65-year-old Catholic priest Fr Anatol Parakhnevich suffered a heart attack. A Minsk KGB official told Forum 18 it would respond on his condition, why he has been arrested and where he is.
29 April 2026
RUSSIA: Anti-war Moscow Buddhist leader convicted again in re-trial
A Moscow court jailed Buddhist leader Ilya Vasilyev for 6 years and banned him from "administering websites". In custody since June 2024, the 52-year-old was convicted in a re-trial for an anti-war social media post. "Some people want to pressure Buddhists to fight on the side of one leader or another," he told the court. "But there are no soldiers' belt buckles with the inscription 'Buddha is with us'." Moscow City Prosecutor's Office did not respond on why prosecutors requested a custodial sentence and how Vasilyev could be considered dangerous.
27 April 2026
RUSSIA: Why did "intelligence service" sponsor attacks on French places of worship?
A Serbian court convicted three Serbian nationals in December 2025 of participating in attacks to desecrate 3 Paris synagogues in May 2025 and 9 Paris area mosques in September 2025. "Every time an event like this happens, worshippers wonder if they really are safe when they come to pray," a mosque employee said. The verdicts – seen by Forum 18 – say "structures of the intelligence service of the Russian Federation" gave the group instructions and money. These were the first known Russian-instigated attacks on places of worship in Europe outside Ukraine.
23 April 2026
RUSSIA: Anti-war Orthodox journalist's 8-year jail term in absentia
On 24 March, a Moscow court handed exiled Orthodox journalist Kseniya Luchenko an 8-year jail term in absentia for an online post condemning a Russian missile strike on a Ukrainian children's hospital. She has lodged an appeal. If she returns to Russia, or visits countries with extradition agreements, she could be jailed. Luchenko is already on Russia's Federal Wanted List, "List of Terrorists and Extremists", and register of "foreign agents". Anti-war Moscow Buddhist Ilya Vasilyev is expecting a verdict shortly in his second trial.
14 April 2026
BELARUS: Supreme Court rejects last-ditch challenge to Greek Catholic parish liquidation
Brest Regional Court ended the legal existence of all three previously-registered Greek Catholic parishes in Brest Region. On 9 April, the Supreme Court in Minsk rejected the appeal by the Parish of the Brother Apostles Saints Peter and Andrew in the city of Brest against its enforced liquidation. Supreme Court press secretary Yuliya Lyaskova refused to answer questions. Pavel Bobruk of Brest Regional Executive Committee refused to say why it had sent suits to court to liquidate all three parishes, and where Greek Catholics should now go to pray.
10 April 2026
BELARUS: Catholic priest arrested – by KGB?
Masked security officers arrested 65-year-old Catholic priest Anatol Parakhnevich in Alkovichi, Minsk Region on 16 March. They have held him since, including over Easter, possibly in Minsk's KGB Investigation Prison. "We know he was detained .. but we don't know where he is being held or what any accusations against him might be," says Catholic spokesperson Fr Yuri Yasevich. Told that Forum 18 was unable to find out why Fr Parakhnevich was arrested, religious affairs official Andrei Aryayev responded: "I don't have any information either." Minsk Region Police did not respond.
18 March 2026
RUSSIA: Handcuffed, stripped, beaten, "repeatedly subjected to electric shocks"
The FSB raided at least four Jehovah's Witness households in Dimitrovgrad in Ulyanovsk Region early on 3 February. Masked officers knocked down Zhanna Popova when she answered the door. An officer struck her 60-year-old husband Igor Popov in the back, "forcibly twisting his neck", apparently to make him give up his computer password. At the local FSB headquarters, Popov was handcuffed, stripped, beaten, and "repeatedly subjected to electric shocks". An investigator forced him to sign a prepared statement "incriminating himself". Officials have not answered Forum 18's questions about the torture.
11 March 2026
BELARUS: "Your long-time pastor is leaving your parish against his will"
Polish Catholic parish priest Fr Paweł Kruczek had served in Belarus for almost 20 years, Fr Adam Straczyński for 11 years. Their Bishop describes their "forced departure" as "painful". The regime's senior religious affairs official, Plenipotentiary for Religious and Ethnic Affairs Aleksandr Rumak, refused the Bishop's request for the two to continue to be allowed to conduct religious work in Belarus. Andrei Aryayev of the Religious Department of the Plenipotentiary's Office in Minsk and Irina Zakharevich of the Ideology Directorate of Brest Regional Executive Committee both refused to discuss the refusals.
5 March 2026
BELARUS: Praying daily for "speedy and honest restoration" of Red Church
Asked if Saints Simon and Helena Catholic Church (Red Church) in central Minsk will be returned for worship once renovations are complete in January 2027, Deputy Plenipotentiary for Religious and Ethnic Affairs Sergei Gerasimenya and Head of the Ideology, Religion, and Ethnic Affairs Coordination Department of Minsk City Executive Committee Tatyana Shevchik both refused to say. Minsk Heritage – which controls the building and ordered it closed after a September 2022 suspicious minor fire - refused Catholic requests to visit the tomb of the Church's founder Edvard Vainilovich on 10 April.
27 February 2026
RUSSIA: Revocation of citizenship after extremism convictions "gaining momentum"
Born in Soviet Uzbekistan, Rustam Diarov had his Russian citizenship revoked in February 2025 while he was in jail to punish him for participation in Jehovah's Witness meetings. On 17 February 2026, prison authorities released Diarov early on health grounds and by the following evening he was in Uzbekistan. His wife, a Russian citizen, went with him. Interior Ministry authorities have revoked the Russian citizenship of at least 12 Jehovah's Witnesses and 2 Muslims convicted for exercising freedom of religion. The practice "has been gaining momentum over the past year", Jehovah's Witnesses observe.
2 February 2026
RUSSIA: One church unsealed, others face banning suits
In November 2025, Federal Security Service (FSB) officers, National Guard troops, prosecutor's office and fire service officials inspected a Council of Churches Baptist church in Rostov's Kirov District. In December 2025, a Magistrate's Court fined Pastor Oleg Volkov for "unlawful missionary activity". Prosecutors then sought to ban the church because it refuses to undergo state registration. They did not respond to Forum 18 as to why they are doing this. Courts have so far banned the activities of at least ten Council of Churches communities, largely in Krasnodar Region.
16 January 2026
RUSSIA: Four administrative fines for anti-war articles, criminal investigation underway
Independent Orthodox priest Iona Sigida has not appealed against four administrative fines imposed in late December 2025. At least two punished him for articles on his church's website. Forum 18 asked Slavyansk City Court why expressing religious views on politics and the war in Ukraine was considered "discreditation" of the Armed Forces or "disrespect" for society or the state. The Court chair directed Forum 18 to the written decisions. Fr Iona is under house arrest as he undergoes criminal investigation. Moscow Buddhist leader Ilya Vasilyev's retrial begins on 19 January.