Religious Freedom Updates from the CIS

The leader of the United Tajik Opposition, Said Abdullo Nuri said the decision to form a "troika" of Russia, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan to combat the threat of fundamentalism in Central Asian endangers the Tajik peace process, ITAR-TASS reported on 15 May. Nuri called the threat "an invention" of "certain circles" and said "fundamentalism does not exist in Tajikistan." The next day, ITAR-TASS quoted Tajik President Imomali Rakhmonov as a saying fundamentalism is a real threat in the region and claiming that religious radicals are already disseminating fundamentalist propaganda in Tajikistan.)

FEAR OF ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALISM

"Pure" and "impure"

Fergana Valley has become a zone of struggle with religious dissent

by Valery Uleev

Nezavisimaia gazeta, 3 April 1998

The region of the Fergana valley, which in the classification of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe is a zone of potential interethnic conflicts, has become the arena of a struggle with religious dissent. In Uzbekistan this struggle has taken on an extremely repressive form. An enormous campaign for rounding up all who are suspected of belonging to Wahhabism has extended even into the south of Kyrgyzstan.

The intraconfessional conflict between true believers and ordinary believers has never gone beyond the platitudes of theological debates of individual religious activists at the mosque level. Many consider that the active penetration of the ideology of fundamentalist Islam into central Asia is related to an external political factor; that is, such countries as Iran, Pakistan, Syria, Saudi Arabia are actively participating in this process, sharing enormous means with their fellow believers. Likely the news about this has been greatly exaggerated. If such help exists, then it is occurring at the official level.

There is a logical explanation for the appeal of the fundamental sources of Islam to a certain portion of believers. In conditions of the liberalization of public life in the first years of sovereignty a certain Islamic response occurred. Today when all restrictions have been removed there are people who are concerned for the purity of Islam. At present in a substantial portion of mosques the flock is being ruled by charlatans, who do not know even the basics of Islam. However it has become prestigious to be a believer and since the early 1990s thousands of people have made the pilgrimage to Mecca.

There has been an impoverishment of the popular masses and a sharp differentiation among people in terms of social and property status. Many believers see the cause of their misery and suffering in social injustice when during the division of the "all-national" property everything was seized by the former party and soviet nomenklatura who walled themselves off from the people by an enormous repressive apparatus.

Today there is a politicization of Islam; that is, on the one hand, the exploitation of the sentiments of believers by the ruling political elite for their own mercenary goals, and on the other hand, crude interference of the state in confessional affairs.

We should be cautious about the way, by reason of theological illiteracy, fundamentalism takes on a negative coloration in our understanding, following the slant of the news services and mass media. We were taught long ago to place an equality sign between the concepts "fundamentalism" and "Islamic terrorism." However, fundamentalism can be not only armed with machine guns and not only in Islam, although it is in Islam in recent years that it acquired such a clear aggressive character. Rather this is a reflexive response to the policy of the West by people who have been driven into a corner. Evidence of this is in the events in Tajikistan, the Balkans, Algeria, and many undercurrents of Islamic life.

"Our" fundamentalists have never declared the idea of the creation of an Islamic theocratic regime to be their basic goal. In our region there has not been a single case where the differences between fundamentalists and believers has gone beyond the bounds of theological disputes and only the interference of the state in religious affairs has intensified the situation and divided Muslims into the "pure" and "impure."

The government has painted all our fundamentalists as Wahhabis for some unknown reason. Meanwhile from an academic point of view, there is no sense in talking about Wahhabism in Central Asia since it can occur only on the basis of the Hanbali, one of the four canonical Sunnite schools of Islamic law which historically never existed on the territory of Central Asia. It is necessary to take into account that Wahhabism as religious dissent poses no threat to the security of our republic, especially since our constitution officially enforces freedom of conscience.

After the famous Namangan events of the end of last year and the beginning of this year, when a criminal group clashed violently with officers of the Uzbek police and members of their families, official law enforcement structures evaluated these actions as terroristic acts of indigenous Wahhabis. In Uzbekistan there began an unprecedented campaign of "witch hunts" which seized the territory of southern Kirgizia. This happened because Islam Karimov incautiously declared at a press conference after the recent summit of the heads of central Asian states that Uzbek Wahhabis were preparing military raids on the territory of the neighboring republic.

Dozens, if not hundreds, of people today are languishing in the prisons of the Uzbek special services merely on suspicion of participation in Wahhabism. It seems that having disposed of political opposition, the dictatorship of Karimov has taken on religious opposition and the Namangan events were the occasion for repressive actions. Meanwhile many consider that the murder of the policemen had nothing to do with religion.

Law enforcement's agencies of Uzbekistan are operating on the territory of southern Kyrgyzstan as if they were on their own land. With the open connivance (and perhaps direct support) of the Kyrgyz authorities, the special forces of Uzbekistan are running wild in Dzhalal-Abad and Osh districts, detaining at the border of kidnapping suspects (Kirgiz citizens) and conducting searches without any authority. The Uzbek police use of technique of planting: they discover on all suspects during the search from one to four grams of marijuana or three or four shells from a Makarov.

The prohibitive and repressive measures have still not produced the desired results. As a rule they have led only to the growth of the opposition. In our opinion the situation will get worse and the number of adherents of fundamentalist Islam will grown inexorably. (tr. by PDS)

AZERBAIJAN: CONTROLS ON RELIGIOUS ACTIVITY

AZERBAIJANI RELIGIOUS LEADER CRITICIZES MISSIONARY ACTIVITIES:

RFE/RL News, May 25^th.

Speaking at a press conference on 22 May, Sheikh-ul-Islam Haji Allakh-Shukur Pashazade, the head of the Spiritual Department of Muslims of Azerbaijan, claimed that the activities of Hare Krishna, Wahhabi, and Christian missionaries have created a "dangerous situation" and could "split the country," Turan reported. Pashazade said his department has written to heads of all Baku local councils asking them for information on "illegal activities" by religious bodies. He also said that using the terms "Allah" and "Prophet" in addressing or greeting Azerbaijani President Heidar Aliev constitutes a "sin."

KYRGYSTAN: LAWS AND CONTROLS ON RELIGION

KYRGYZ DRAFT LAW ON RELIGION MIGHT ALLOW DISCRIMINATION AGAINST NON-TRADITIONAL RELIGIONS

Kyrgyz Draft Law on Religion Ambiguous in its Treatment of ‘Non-Traditional’ Religions

by Dr John Anderson, University of St Andrews

Mar 24, 1998

For some months now a parliamentary committee in Kyrgyzstan has been considering a new law on religion, though a legislative backlog suggests that it may be some time before the law sees the light of day. Though official spokesmen previously expressed a concern to avoid the discriminatory elements in the Russian law, a text that has recently become available to Keston Institute reveals considerable ambiguities in phrasing that might allow pressures to be mounted against ‘non-traditional’ religious groups.

Article 5 of the draft does indeed promise full religious freedom and equality to all regardless of their convictions, but a number of other clauses follow the Russian example in offering rights primarily to ‘traditional religious organisations’ - a category that is nowhere defined in the text of the law. For example, though the state education system is declared separate from religion, ‘traditional’ religious communities may under certain defined circumstances participate in the moral education of secondary pupils. The same article excludes non-traditional groups from preaching in state or private schools, and also appears to deny them the right to propagate their message in public places or through the mass media. (Article 9) And though the state commission on religious affairs together with the Justice Ministry has recently undertaken a re-registration of religious communities, it seems that a further process will have to follow on approval of the current draft (Article 11)

On paper certain aspects of the law appear less restrictive than the Russian version, but many ambiguities remain. For example, all religious groups appear able to import religious literature, though the proviso that such works must not stir up ethnic hatred or social unrest raises a number of questions, especially in the light of recent press comment attacking the charismatic Church of Jesus Christ and other groups for publishing books which attack the cult of ancestors, something seen as an attack on their national culture. Other ambiguities include the prohibition on attempting to win people over from one religion to another, an apparent ban on all proselytizing activities, and the suggestion that non-registered religious groups are not simply denied the right of juridical personality, as at present, but have no right to exist at all. In addition the functions of the state commission on religious affairs are spelt out in a sufficiently vague way so as to allow both liberal and constrictive interpretations of its role (Article 20)

From a liberal perspective the ambiguities of the law must raise questions as to whether Kyrgyzstan’s place as the Central Asian haven of religious pluralism is under threat. Whilst much of the law may pose no threat to ‘non-traditional’ religions, various articles allow sufficient leeway for restrictive interpretation by central and local officials. Moreover, the fact that the law appears to emanate from the presidential administration means that PRESIDENT AKAYEV is unlikely to repeat his recent use of the veto against a press law which severely curtailed the rights of the media. At the same time, Western observers need to bear in mind that this is not a stable democracy but a state where ethnic and civic harmony is fragile, and where the concern for order is central.

CONTROLS ON ISLAM AND SUBSEQUENT REACTIONS BY MUSLIMS

RFE/RL—May 14^th, 1998

Presidential spokesman Kanybek Imanaliyev told a press briefing on 13 May that Askar Akayev is personally supervising the battle against religious extremism, ITAR-TASS reported. Imanaliyev said the president is concerned about the "appearance of Wahhabi missionaries." Kyrgyzstan, like neighboring Uzbekistan, has ordered all mosques to be registered.

Kyrgyz Religious Organizations Form Committee to Protect Islam

RFE/RL—May 15^th, 1998

A number of religious organizations have established a committee in Bishkek to counter anti-Islamic measures by the Kyrgyz leadership, RFE/RL’s Bishkek bureau reported on 14 May. Human Rights Movement of Kyrgyzstan Chairman Tursunbek Akunov said that the Kyrgyz government is cracking down on religious organizations under the pretext of combating Wahhabism, which, he claimed, does not pose a threat in Kyrgyzstan. Also on 14 May, Russian presidential spokesman Sergei Yastrzhembskii invited Kyrgyzstan to join the tripartite alliance created by Russia, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan earlier this month to combat religious extremism, ITAR-TASS reported. LF

TATARSTAN: CONTROLS ON RELIGION TO MAINTAIN BALANCE BETWEEN ISLAM & CHRISTIANITY

KEEPING ISLAM IN LINE

The Moscow Times, May 16^th 1998

KAZAN, Tatarstan—Tatarstan, 750 kilometers east of Moscow, maintains a careful balance between its Islamic and Christian communities. Tatarstan’s religious harmony is in part due to the strategy of authoritarian President Mintimer Shaimiyev. He has shrewdly cultivated close ties with the traditionally Christian half of the population, as well as with the other half, ethnic Tatars who are traditionally Muslim.

But Tatarstan has a strong history of harmony between Christianity and Islam. The two religions are divided largely along ethnic lines—Slavs and Tatars. Some Tatars converted to Christianity in the 16^th and 18^th centuries, but today there are virtually no conversions across the ethnic lines. "By God’s will, we are already divided, and we have nothing else to divide," Galiullah, the previous mufti for Tatarstan, says.

For centuries, the Russian Empire observed the rights of Muslims in its territory in exchange for reciprocal treatment of Orthodox Christians in the Ottoman Empire. "The fundamentals of this tolerance were built a long time ago," says Archbishop Anastasy of Tatarstan, who heads the republic’s Russian Orthodox community. In the early 1990s, Muslims and Orthodox Christians staged joint protests demanding the return of their houses of worship. The giant Azimov Mosque in Kazan’s market area and the eloquent baroque St. Peter and Paul Cathedral, both not far from the Kremlin, were returned as a result of those demonstrations.

UZBEKHISTAN: LAW PASSED RESTRICTING RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

UZBEK LAW RESTRICTS RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

AP—Moscow Times, May 16^th 1998

TASHKENT, Uzbekistan—Authorities will now be able to restrict religious freedoms for national security reasons under a sweeping new law that took effect Friday in mostly Muslim Uzbekistan.

The law, passed two weeks ago by parliament, appears directed at the Wahhabis, a fundamentalist Islamic sect blamed for recent violence in the former Soviet republic in Central Asia. Uzbek President Islam Karimov said previous laws were inadequate to stem the growth of the sect, originating in Saudi Arabia. Karimov’s government alleges that Wahhabis are intent on installing an Islamic government in place of his secular one.

Karimov has accused Wahhabis of killing officials and destroying food processing plants, water reservoirs, power stations and other strategic sites.

The law requires all religious groups to register with the government. It bans political parties based on religion and says minors cannot take part in religious organizations or missionary activities.

LAWS PUBLISHED

RFE/RL Newsline, 22/5/98

In its 19 May issue, the Uzbek daily newspaper "Khalk Suzi" published the text of laws aimed at regulating the activities of religious groups in the country. The new legislation stipulates that religious groups must register and outlaws missionary activities aimed at converting individuals to other religions, teaching religious subjects without official permission, publishing material that advocates extremism, separatism, and chauvinism. Some clauses of the laws are vague, such as the one forbidding people to wear religious clothing in public. Clergymen from registered religious groups are exempt from that provision.

KAZAKHSTAN: RESTRICTIONS ON CHURCH ATTENDANCE IN THE NAME OF SECURITY

Who can go to Church?

Almaty police try to set Cossacks against archbishop

by Sergei Kozlov

Nezavisimaia gazeta, 30 April 1998

Every year when the Orthodox of Kazakhstan mark their chief holy day, the Resurrestion of Christ, the "Cossack question" breaks out, in which the Cossacks and the authorities make mutual accusations against one another. As a rule, this regards the traditional clothing of Cossacks; the agencies of law enforcement consider the wearing of such clothing a violation of Kazakh legislation that forbids "creation of military groups." The Cossacks maintain that the authorities are looking for any, even the most absurd, pretense to discredit the representatives of Cossackdom and to achieve its complete eradication from Kazakhstan.

The current Orthodox Easter turned out to be no exception, during which on 19 April Almaty police did not permit the Semireche Cossacks to enter the main church of the city, Holy Ascension cathedral church, for the celebration of Easter liturgy. At the same time, along with the Cossacks, who were dressed in traditional Cossack uniform but not carrying any weapons, members of their families who were dressed like all the rest of the believers coming to church also were not admitted.

Representatives of law enforcement agencies cited several orders by the head of the administration of Almaty, Viktor Khrapunov. But the Cossacks were not told directly that the reason for the detention was their military uniforms.

"Because we have been regenerated on the principles of Orthodoxy," the assistant to the ataman of the Union of Semireche Cossacks, Vladimir Shikhotov, told reporters, "and this is the greatest Orthodox holy day, we cannot come not wearing festive clothing, our Cossack clothing."

The head of the department for relations with public organizations of the chief administration of internal affairs of Almaty, Lt. Col. Alikhan Bektasov, made a curious declaration placing the blame for the great uproar: "The question of whom to admit to the church and whom not to permit was not decided by the government head but by the bishop; church hierarchs decided it."

In the lieutenant colonel’s version, the archbishop of Alma-Ata and Semipalatinsk, Alexis, who was conducting the Easter liturgy in Ascension cathedral, supposedly appealed himself to the Semireche Cossacks not to come to church in military uniforms. Alikhan Bektasov called the appearance of Cossacks in military uniform a provocation against the Orthodox church.

However literally the next day the incident between the Cossacks and the law enforcement agencies took a completely unexpected turn. Archbishop Alexis completely refuted Bektasov’s declaration: "It was complete news to me that the police did not admit people into the entries because they were dressed in Cossack clothing. I did not give any such orders. . . ."

The master categorically denied Lt. Col. Bektasov’s version that the Cossacks, in putting on their traditional uniforms, were somehow going against Orthodoxy or were provoking the leadership of the church to forbid their attending churches; Cossack clothing has no significance for the Lord, the archbishop thinks.

The situation is also curious because this was the first time that Archbishop Alexis, in the seven years of his serving in his current post in Almaty, openly raised his voice against local authorities. Ordinarily the local diocese has silently distanced itself from the activities of the Cossacks and in November 1994 it even condemned their statement in defense of their rights. Obviously there is some basis for the point of view that Bektasov quite reasonably counted on the silence of Archbishop Alexis as a way of deflecting criticism from the administrative head of Almaty, Viktor Khrapunov.

But the head of the Orthodox church of Kazakhstan did not remain silent, which has amazed many here, and he gave new premises for accusations against such a despicable and scandalous figure as Lt. Col. Bektasov, who for several years has been courting Cossack opposition by regularly provoking Cossacks and forcing a conflict between them and the diocese.

True, it still remains unclear whose orders the officers of law enforcement were fulfilling when they trailed the Cossacks and prevented their entering the church. (tr. by PDS)

BEL0RUSSIA: RESTRICTIONS AND SENTIMENTS

ULTIMATE GOAL OF A SLAVIC ORTHODOX STATE

Calls for "Eastern Slavs" to Unite

RFE/RL—May 25^th, 1998

Speaking at a conference entitled "The Slav World: Unity and Variety" in Yaroslavl on 23 May, Lukashenka called for the consolidation of "Eastern Slavs" and warned against Western attempts "to impair the creation of any civilized association" on former USSR territory. He said the Russia-Belarus union is "not a closed society but the core of a multi-faceted and equal unity of Slavs and other peoples." Belarus has now taken on the role of a "unifier of Slavic territories," he commented.

Belarus-Russia Union Obstructing "Globalization"?

RFE/RL—May 25^th, 1998

Belarusian Foreign Minister Ivan Antanovich, addressing the Russian Academy of Social Sciences in Minsk on 25 May, said that the Belarus-Russia union has become "a major barrier on the road of world globalization," ITAR-TASS and Belapan reported. "Supranational corporations have practically dominated the entire world, but today nobody calls this process imperialism, it is called globalization," he commented. The Belarus-Russia union, he continued, has revived the "more than 1,000-year tradition of making a great state." Antanovich added that it is possible to introduce joint systems of control within the union, primarily in the financial, power engineering, transport, communications, and defense sectors. With regard to the union’s future, Antanovich commented that he personally would like to see a "Slavic Orthodox state."

BELARUS REQUIRES HUMANITARIAN ORGANIZATIONS TO APPLY FOR LICENSES.

RFE/RL, 28/5/98

"Belorusskaya delovaya gazeta" reported on 27 May that Minsk will this week implement its ruling that all agencies involved in the distribution of humanitarian aid in Belarus and sending Belarusian children abroad for medical treatment must apply for a license to the Presidential Administration Department for Humanitarian Aid. That department will issue five-year licenses and is also authorized to revoke those permits. "Belorusskaya delovaya gazeta" suggests the government made the ruling to remove "competitors" from what it may consider lucrative activities and to distribute aid only to those individuals "favored by the authorities." JM

UKRAINE: NEWS ON RELIGION

STATISTICS ON RELIGION IN UKRAINE

More than 65 religions in Ukraine

SLAVIANSK, UKRAINE, 22 April (Radiotserkov).

The committee on religious affairs of Ukraine published statistical data according to which at present more than 20,000 religious organizations are operating in the country, belonging to 65 confessions and denominations. Around 50 percent of all religious societies of Ukraine are Orthodox. Numerically, the next group after the Orthodox is the Ukrainian Greek Catholic church, which number more than 3,000 societies.

Third and fourth place, numerically and in terms of influence on the population of Ukraine, are occupied by the Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists (around 2,000 organizations) and the Union of Christians of Evangelical Faith, to which more than 1,000 Christian congregations belong. Besides this, the committee of religious affairs noted that in the past year the number of "Full Gospel" charismatic churches has grown, as well as of the students of religious educational institutions belonging to these churches. According to statistical data, the rate of growth of their congregations is greatest for the charismatic churches among all religious organizations of Ukraine.

UKRANIAN CHURCH DECRIES NEW "MARK OF THE BEAST" ID NUMBERS

ID numbers decried

Kiev (AP, 28/5/98)

The Ukranian branch of the Russian Orthodox Church denounced a new system of national identifications numbers as"the mark of the Antichrist."

The new system — similar to Social Security numbers in the United States — was introduced last fall but has come into wider use in recent weeks, especially in official transactions.

The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine appealed to the president, the government and parliament Tuesday to change the system.

The Bible’s Book of Revelations cites 666 as the number of the Antichrist. Some Christians interpret that to mean that the "mark of the beast" could be any identifying number required to transact business in the modern world.

UKRAINE HAS A DOZEN SATANIST GROUPS

Satanists arrested

by Svenlana Stepanenko

Radiotserkov

KIEV, 27 February. At the beginning of February several members of a sect of satanists were arrested in Kiev. Offices of the Podol department of police caught the satanists in one of the unfinished blocks of the Pavlov psychiatric hospital on Lysa hill while there were performing cultic rituals. Among the eleven arrested, six were minors. Although in commemoration of their "holiday" the satanists had killed several dogs, the police agencies had to release them because of insufficient evidence of criminal activity. According to information from law enforcement agencies, there now are approximately ten such sects, comprising around 300 members, active in the Ukrainian capital.

UKRAINE CHURCH CONTROVERSY DIVIDES VATICAN AND RUSSIAN ORTHODOX:

An ongoing a dispute about properties between the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church is a major factor in continued tension between the Pope and the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, and this situation must be solved before the two will meet. There is also some sort of a division between the Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

(Combined news clips, January 16^th, 1998:)

Talks between Russian Orthodox and Catholic Church officials ended with no major agreements or breakthroughs Jan. 15. The two sides met to patch up differences over the status of Catholic churches in the Ukraine, among other issues, and to schedule a meeting between Pope John Paul II and Patriarch Alexy. The heads of the two church bodies have not met since 1054 when the Christian church split into Orthodox and Catholic camps.

...The historic meeting can’t take place until a difficult situation in Ukraine is resolved, Russian Orthodox Church sources said. The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, formed in 1596 and loyal to the Vatican, was banned by Josef Stalin in 1946. The church re-formed in the 1980s and began seizing church property from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church after the breakup of the Soviet Union. Orthodox leaders contend that the Ukrainian church obtained the property illegally.

...A meeting between the Pope and Patriarch may not be too far off, according to the Interfax news agency. Vatican officials say they are pleased with the progress already made, which includes a joint church commission to study the Ukraine problem. John Paul II has expressed a desire to preach a message of Christian unity in Russia but cannot do so unless he receives permission from the Russian Orthodox Church.

Metropolitan refuses to pray with Ukrainian Orthodox

KIEV, 12 May. The primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox church, Metropolitan Vladimir, refused to participate in a supplication service marking the opening of the work of the Supreme Soviet of Ukraine along with the "head" of the schismatic groups, Ukrainian Orthodox Church Kiev Patriarch and Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church. The supplication service was scheduled for 11 May in the cathedral of Holy Wisdom in Kiev. As a result, the "ecumenical" service did not occur at all. (tr. by PDS)

LEGAL DEVELOPMENTS CONCERNING RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

RUSSIAN RATIFICATION OF EUROPEAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS:

(RFE/RL, March 13^th, 1998)

Upper House Ratifies Human Rights Convention

The Federation Council on 13 March voted 105 to zero to ratify the European Convention on Human Rights, Reuters reported. The upper house held no debate before approving the document, which is supported by Yeltsin. After the president signs the convention, Russian citizens will be allowed to seek redress at the European Court in Strasbourg if they believe their rights have been violated.

Activists Unimpressed By Draft Program on Human Rights

Members of the human rights chamber of the president's Political Consultative Council have sharply criticized a draft program for protecting human rights in Russia from 1998-2002, RFE/RL's Moscow bureau reported. During a 12 March meeting, veteran activists including Valerii Borshchev, who is also a State Duma deputy from Yabloko, said the program was drafted without consulting the human rights community. Lidiya Grafova said discussing the program was a "waste of time." In interviews with RFE/RL, Grafova and other members of the chamber expressed pessimism about current trends in Russia. Viktor Cherepkov, who is also mayor of Vladivostok, argued that it is "impossible" to use the court system to defend human rights. Valerii Abramkin argued that torture is such a widespread problem in law-enforcement agencies that the police pose a greater threat to the population than do criminals. LB

MINISTRY OF JUSTICE ISSUES TEMPORARY GUIDELINES

MINISTRY OF JUSTICE OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

LETTER

Concerning practical questions on implementation of the federal law

On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations

For use in the practical implementation of the federal law "On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations" we send:

--a commentary on the law prepared by the deputy president of the commission on question of religious associations of the government of the Russian federation A.E. Sebentsov; [Russian text of this commentary is available at Pravoslavie v Rossii. See also "The law is about freedom for all."]

--methodological recommendations for execution by agencies of justice of the oversight functions with regard to religious organizations prepared by the department on affairs of public and religious associations;

--methodological recommendations for the application by agencies of justice of several provisions of the federal law "On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations," prepared by the department on affairs of public and religious associations on the basis of questions submitted by agencies of justice.

--rules for review of applications for state registration of religious organizations with agencies of justice, have been worked out and will be sent after their state registration. Normative legal acts of the government of the Russian federation (on procedures for registration of representations of foreign religious organizations and on the conduct of state religious academic expert analysis) will be officially published after their adoption.

At the same time we remind you of the necessity of submission to the department on affairs of public and religious associations of information about state registration of religious organizations in 1997 in accordance with the previous sent form by 20 January 1998.

First deputy minister P. Krasheninikov

24 December 1997

RUSSIAN HUMAN-RIGHTS DEFENDERS CALL NEW REGULATIONS 'DISCRIMINATORY'

Roman Lunkin, Keston News Service

Mar. 10, 1998

Russian human-rights activists have criticised their government's new regulations on the registration of foreign religious organizations as 'discriminatory'. The new regulations, which interpret Article 13 of the controversial law on church-state relations enacted in September, were published in the Moscow newspaper 'Rossiiskaya gazeta' on 12 February and have been translated into English by the Foreign Broadcast Information Service of the U.S. government. (Contrary to some reports, as of the first week of March these regulations interpreting Article 13 are the only regulations related to the new law which have been officially approved and published. As of 6 March, regulations interpreting the law's other 26 articles were still in draft form.)

The final version of these 'Regulations on the procedure for the registration, opening and closing in the Russian Federation of representative bodies of foreign religious organizations' ('Polozhenie o poryadke registratsii, otkrytiya i zakrytiya v Rossisikoi Federatsii predstavitelstv innostranykh religioznykh organizatsii') is essentially the same as the draft version which has already been circulated informally. (See Keston News Service, 'Draft Regulations Fail To Soften New Religion Law', 19 January 1998.)

VALERI BORSHCHOV, the Russian parliament's leading defender of religious freedom, told Keston that the final regulations discriminate against foreigners. He noted that the new regulations are more restrictive than the text of the law itself, which includes only a prohibition on liturgical and other religious activities by representative bodies of foreign religious organisations. The regulations go beyond that prohibition to deprive foreign religious bodies of the status of legal personalities, with all the consequences following from this, even though registration in and of itself should normally presuppose such status, he said.

In addition, said Borshchov, the regulations require re- registration of representative bodies of foreign religious organisations once every three years, which in effect means that for each re-registration a representative body will be required to prove its right to exist. In Borshchov's opinion, a measure which was at first 'extraordinary' will now become 'routine'.

By a decree ('postanovleniye') of the government signed by PRIME MINISTER CHERNOMYRDIN on 2 February and published together with the 'polozheniye', foreign religious organisations with representative bodies in Russia are required within six months to apply to the appropriate organ of justice for registration.

Protestant activist PYOTR ABRASHKIN, head of the all-Russian Council of Christian Organisations, told Keston that the six- month period is completely unrealistic. Most organisations which will be classified as representative bodies of foreign religious organisations will be unable to complete the process on time and will thus be forbidden, he said. Agreeing with Borshchov, he said that the very principle of periodic re- registration for religious bodies is discriminatory because the laws of Russia do not recognise any such principle for non- religious organisations: the latter are required to register only once. The new regulations state that provincial or national executive-branch officials may terminate the activities of a representative body of a foreign religious organisation on their own authority if they unilaterally decide that it has broken the law. They would not need to seek a court order.

RELIGIOUS BODIES FACE THE QUESTION OF REGISTRATION

RUSSIA RECOGNIZES MORMON CHURCH

(Associated Press, The Moscow Times, May 19^th 1998.)

SALT LAKE CITY – Russia’s Justice Ministry has granted official recognition to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and several other denominations, lessening fears that foreign-based faiths would be expelled, the Mormon Church has announced.

Signed Thursday [May 14^th 1998] in Moscow and anounced Friday, the certificate of registration allows the Mormon church to continue its humanitarian and missionary efforts and to provide meeting places for its roughly 8,500 members in Russia.

"This will come as an immense relief for our members as well as the missionaries and the parents of missionaries," said Jeffrey Holland, a member of the faith’s Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, which oversees Mormon operations in the former Soviet Union.

Not that the church ever stopped its longtime work in Russia, where it supports seven missions and sends more than 700 missionaries door-to-door seeking converts. Holland said the church has had a presesnce in Russia for the past 50 years, although only insignificant numbers during the 1990s.

PENTECOSTALS ACHIEVE LEGAL REREGISTRATION

by Dmitry Suslov, Radiotserkov, 2 April 1998

KAZAN, 1 April. All Russian Pentecostals have great joy. On 30 March 1998 the new Russian United Union of Christians of Evangelical Faith (Pentecostals) underwent state reregistration in accordance with the rules established by the new law on freedom of conscience. (tr. by PDS)

RUSSIAN BAPTIST UNION REREGISTERED

by Liliia Solomonova, Alexis Markevich, Radiotserkov

MOSCOW, 2 May. Our reporter has learned from the attorney for the Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists of Russia, Boris Tanasov, that on 22 April the union underwent official reregistration in the Ministry of Justice. The new charter, adopted recently by the congress of EKhB of Russia, was registered. Such reregistration became necessary as a result of the adopted of the new law on freedom of conscience. At the present time regional EKhB centers are preparing for reregistration. Following them, local churches also will be reregistered. (tr. by PDS)

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH DENIED REGISTRATION

by Lilia Solomonova, Radiotserkov

MOSCOW, 8 April. The directorate of justice of the Administration of Moscow region refused registration to the congregation of the Christian Presbyterian church Zion in the city of Reutovo, Moscow region. "In accordance with article 11, part 5 of the law 'On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Association,'" the letter from the chief of the directorate of justice of the Administration of Moscow region, Yu. Vlasov, said in responst the the application from the congregation's pastor N. Slivki, "registation requires the presentation of a document certifying the existence of the religious group on the given territory for at least fifteen years, which is provided by an agence of the local administration. Because of the absence of such a document, the directorate of justice has decided to leave the application without review." (tr. by PDS)

PROBLEMS RESULT IN REGISTRATION OF RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS

NOTHING HAS CHANGED

Nezavisimaia gazeta--religiia, 15 April 1998

New rules for registration forbid violations of law

Almost a half year from the day the federal law "On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations" took effect, the agencies of justice, citing the absence of rules for registration, has not reviewed the applications for registration and reregistration of religious organizations. Representatives of the administration of the presidency of Russia and the government of the Russian federation frequently, though for some reason most often abroad, have declared that the rules for registration and other substatutory acts whose adoption were provided by the current federal law should provide clarifications for all the contradictory provisions of the new law and, in the end, there will be no violations of the rights of religious organizations.

So finally on 16 February 1998, rules for the review of applications for state registration of religious organizations with agencies of justice of the Russian federation were approved by edict of the Ministry of Justice of RF and were registered on 5 March 1998. (English text of the rules)

Vladimir Vasilevich Riakkhovsky, president of the Christian Legal Center, were the hopes of religious organizations, who had come under the operation of the unconstitutional provisions of point 3, article 27 of the new law, that with the adoption of the rules on registration their problems would be resolved satisfied?

Of course not. How could any rules in general resolve the contradicitons in the federal law? No. According to point 1, article 11 of the federal law "On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations," the state registration of religious organizations is conducted by the federal agency of justice and agencies of justice of the component elements of the Russian federation according to a procedure established in accordance with civil legislation and the current federal law. In accordance with point 1, article 51 of the civil code of RF a legal entity is liable to state registration by the procedure established by the law on registration of legal entities. Inasmuch as the law on registration of legal entities, including religious organizations, has not yet been adopted, then the only legislative standards that regulate the procedure of registration of religious organizations must be considered to be the general provisions on legal entities of the civil code and corresponding articles of the law "On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations." The rules regarding the review of applications for state registration of religious organizations within the agencies of justice of the Russian federation are simply the administrative regulatory act of the Ministry of Justice, which does not define a procedure for registering religious organizations but only a precedure for reviewing applications for registration, the procedure of submission of documents, requirements of their form, procedure for transmittal of documents, adoption of decision regarding them, and so on. Moreover, these rules, as regulatory and substatutory acts, not only should not, but may not, interpret federal law. The right of official interpretation of a law belongs exclusively to the legislators themselves. The Ministry of Justice of RF is not such a body.

Thus it would of course be mistaken to say that the adoption of rules for the review of applications could clarify the situation on the implementation of the provisions of point 3, article 27, of the federal law "On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations," dealing with religious organizations that do not have a "document" confirming their activity on the respective territory for at least fifteen years. Only the constitutional court of RF can deal with the issue of the constitutionality of point 3, article 27 of the law. These provisions of the law already have been applied by agencies of the procuracy in regard to several religious organizations in specific instances and thus in the near future an appeal will be presented to the constitutional court of RF over the violation of the constitutional rights and freedoms of citizens by point 3, article 27 of the law.

Nevertheless , those who developed the rules for review of applications deserve their due. Being bound by the text of the overtly discriminatory point 3 of article 27 of the law, they nevertheless made the attempt to remove its contradiction with articles 9 and 13. Thus, in accordance with point 3 of the rules, religious organizations that do not have the document regarding fifteen years of activity, but which are members of a centralized religious organization, are not required to undergo annual reregistration. Unfortunately, those who worked out the rules were not able to go any further; that would become interpretation of the law. Although by logical extension it would seem that religious organizations that are members of a centralized organization suffer no restrictions of their rights, regardless of the length of their activity.

I think that it would be worthwhile to determine in the rules for review of applications the procedure for informing agencies of local administration regarding the establishment and commendement of the activity of a religious group as well as the procedure for a religious association's receiving appropriate confirmation. These questions, although not directly connected with the procedure for review of applications for registration by agencies of justice, nevertheless have direct pertinence to this procedure.

Failure to regulate these matters at the federal level has already led to arbitrary interpretation by agencies of local administration of the provision of point 2, article 7 of the law. Thus, the administration of Vladivostok required all religious groups operating on the territory of Vladivostok and not registered with the department of justice of the Primore territory to submit a written notice to the mayor regarding their activity with the addition of a list of all members of the group, the leadership staff, and indication of the place and time of its meetings. The admininstration of Ekaterinburg also is adopting rules for giving notice of the beginning of the activity of religious groups.

In accordance with this regulatory act, notification about the commencement of the activity of a religious group is in no way different from state registration of a religious organization; it is necessary to present a list of ten participants of the group and the bylaws of its activity with an indication of the structure of the group and the form of its activity, information about the fundamentals of its doctrine, the conclusions of the expert panel of the administration of Ekaterinburg, certification of the religious character of the activity of the group, and, strangely, a document confirming its legal address. In the course of three months the administration will review such "notification" and render its decision.

And these are only the first fruits of the legislative actions of local administrations. Tomorrow the administrations of villages and towns will begin to adopt their rules. Perhaps it is still not too late to regulate this matter that directly affects the rights and freedoms of citizens at the federal level. In my view the rules on review of applications arbitrarily include a list of the information that is contained in the consolidated state register (appendix 3). It is not clear why religious organizations, distinct from all other legal entities, now have a one month period to inform the registering agency about changes in their leadership? Where does such "special attention" on the part of the state to religious associations "that are separated from it" come from? (tr. by PDS)

PROBLEMS RESULTING FROM THE LAW ON RELIGION

KGB-STYLE TACTICS USED ON CLERGY

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE ASKS CLERGY TO BECOME INFORMERS

by Aleksei Markevich, Lilia Solomonova, Radiotserkov (Moscow)

The Obninsk EKhB church received a warning from the district administration of justice, according to the miniter of this congregation, Igor Filatov, in a communication to a Radiotserkov reporter. The warning contains the strict requirement of annual reporting of all sorts of information about the church, including "Family name, given name, patronymic, and information certifying the permanent and legal residence on the territory of RF of the leader and members of the organization." The warning includes citations to the laws on freedom of conscience and noncommercial organizations which are by no means clear. It seems that stern warnings have been received also by other EKhB churches in central Russia. It is evident that the leaders of the churches are being insistently urged to inform on members of their chruches and to report how many of them are residing "on a legal basis." (tr. by PDS)

EVANGELICAL GROUP FACE INTIMIDATION

[The following document, in typescript, was sent by FAX to Russian Religion News on 20 February]

THE POLICE HAVE INTERPRETED AND ENFORCED THE LAW ON FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE

In the city of Narofominsk a small group of believing Christians of Evangelical Faith (1) has formed. The majority of them are retired and they invited to their home a young minister from Balabanovo, Sergei Adamovich Drozdov (2). Liudmila Ivanovna Zaitsev, who is retired, summoned all of them to her apartment.

The new law "On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations", adopted in September 1997, provided for such a situation in chapter !!, article 7, under the heading "Religious group." The first point states: "A religious group in the present federal law is defined as a voluntary association of citizens, formed for the purposes of corporate confession and dissemination of faith, functioning without state registration and acquiring the legal capacity of juridical person . The premises and property necessary for the activity of a religious group are acquired for the group's use by its participants."

In the evening of 13 February, in Liudmila Ivanovna's apartment, during the evening worship meeting, a bell rang and a district policeman walked in. Having learned from the hostess that a religious group had assembled in her home, or more accurately a church of which she was a member, he demanded of Sergei Adamovich Drozdov his passport, in accordance with the passport system. Since at the present time he did not have his passport on him, he did not produce it (all he had was his wife's identification as a mother of multiple children). Having learned that he did not live in Narofominsk (Moskow region) but in Balabanovo (Kaluga region at the border with Moscow, thirty minutes away), the policeman demanded that he and the hostess go to the police station.

Thus the worship service was interrupted by a crude act of disrespect for the religious feelings of the assembled beleivers by a representative of the law enforcement agencies and all believers were extremely upset.

At the police station, after interrogating both, the mistress of the apartment was permitted to go home and the presbyter was told to report to the chief of police the next morning with his passport. Sergei Adamovich, who suspected nothing, arrived at Narofominsk from Balabanovo at the appointed time, intending to go from there to work.

The chief of police conducted an interrogation which was both insulting and humiliating. Knowing quite well that sitting in front of him was no criminal who had been arrested for committing a crime, but a minister of the church of Christians of Evangelical Faith, the police chief did not restrain himself from using the threat of an eight-day sentence and requiring Sergei to sign a promise not to appear in Narofominsk during the evening hours for whatever reason. The deputy chief, a major, behaved differently, in a proper and respectful manner.

Finally the police chief ordered to take him to the police department, where a lieutenant collected his documents and on the basis of accompanying documents put him into a cell with fifteen men. Sergei read on this slip of paper given him what he was accused of: "Refused to produce documents upon demand of a police officer; behaved defiantly and indecently; insulted a police officer." Sergei objected that this was not true, but he got no results. Then he asked to tell his wife that he had been arrested, since she would have to stay with the children. But no one complied with this.

He was received in the cell cordially when the men found out about his "crime." All the prisoners sympathized with him, but they noted that he had signed his papers, which they asked to see. Apparently they were talking out of their own bitter experience.

On Monday, after two days had passed, Sergei was removed from the cell and again taken to the chief. This time they brought him into a larger office where behind the table sat a man in civilian clothing and the earlier chief sat to the side. The new chief did not introduce himself but conducted an interrogation in a very crude manner. First he asked Sergei whether he was a believer. Having received an affirmative answer he asked whether he would continue to believe. Then he threatened that if Sergei did not get out of Narofominsk, then he would force him to worship at the Orthodox church or he would do something that Sergei would not like. Several times he asked Sergei sternly whether he would appear here again. If he were to show up in the city, even if it were not for a service in the evening, then he would be detained for a fifteen-day period, followed by another fifteen. Surveillance would be posted at the apartment and no one would have the right to assemble there without registration.

In the end Sergei Adamovich was fined twenty rubles and charged about forty for his food. His wife was waiting for him at the police station door along with the bishop of the district church.

Immediately after his release several religious organizations (Christian Missionary Center of Kaluga region, the Gideons of Kaluga region, and the Association of Christian Missions of Moscow), who are most concerned about the fate of freedom of conscience in Russia, held a conference at which Sergei Adamovich was asked to tell about what happened.

All present, recognizing their responsibility for the fate of freedom of conscience, which is dear to all, decided not to leave this incident without an appropriate response but to spread publicity about these first step of a new legal order. Does this incident reflect the new legislation in operation or is it simply the arbitrariness of local authorities? Who can answer this question? The court, or time?

[the document was signed on 17 February 1998 by I.P. Fedotov, bishop of the regional church of Christians of Evangelical Faith of Russia; A.I. Kalugin, district bishop; V.I. Chernousov, president of the Christian Missionary Center; V.G. Murashkin, Acting President of the Association of Christian Missions]

Notes appended to original:

1. The Association of Churches of Christians of Evangelical Faith (KhVE) of Russia traces its foundation to 1920, to the Odessa (1922), All-Ukrainian (1923) and later All-Russian (1927) Union of KhVE churches, which in 1927 comprised more than 40,000 members. At the present he is represented by more than 40 religious missions and centers throughout Russia, united in the Association of Christian Missions located in Moscow.

2. Sergei Adamovich Drozdov, born 1970, is married, father of four children, employed as a piano tuner in the Second Music School of Obninsk. He is an ordained presbyter in the United Church of Christians of Evangelical Faith. His ministry for God is conducted without compensation in his free time. (tr. by PDS)

ONLY ORTHODOX SERVICES PERMITTED IN PRISON

by Yury Kolesnikov, Radiotserkov

NOVOSIBIRSK, 4 May. According to reports from Novokuznetsk, the Evangelical Christians-Baptists churches have been deprived of the right to continue their work among prisoners in the corrective labor colony, no. 16/12, of the administration of internal affairs. Director of the colony, Lt. Korolev, in a private conversation with Alexis Kriukov, the local minister, stated that "an order has been received to admit into the territory for services among prisoners only representatives of the Russian Orthodox church." Asked about what will become of the prayer building that was built here at the expense of the Baptists five years ago, Lt. Korolev advised transferring it to the RPTs parish. Unfortunately, the Radiotserkov reporter still has been unable to make contact with the administration of the colony in order to clarify whether the order came "from above" or the initiative for the "eviction" of Baptists from the territory belongs to the local leadership. (tr. by PDS)

LUTHERAN MISSION IN TUIM (KHAKASSIIA) HARASSED

(1) Next Round In Tuim?

by Yuri Kolesnikov, Radiotserkov

NOVOSIBIRSK. 11 March. The director of the Evangelical Lutheran Mission in the settlement of Tuim (Khakassiia), Fr Pavel Zaiakin, reported that today at 9:00 a.m. the procurator's office conducted a verification of registration documents of the Evangelical Lutheran Mission in the premises of the Tuim Lutheran church. The verification was conducted by the assistant procurator of the district, Olga Mikhailovna Kvasova. To the mission director's question about what was the basis for the verification and what authorization she had, Mrs. Kvasova declared that "the procuracy may verify any organization and require any documents for the verification for purposes of assuring legality, without any sanctions."

Fr Pavel told the Radiotserkov reporter by phone that he could not find such a broad authorization in the text of the law on the procuracy other than the vague indication that "the procuracy carries out oversight of the legality of any organizations and administrations." Nevertheless, as the basis for the verification of the activity of the Lutheran mission Mrs. Kvasova offered a circular of the procuracy of the republic of Khakassiia.

This document, according to Far Pavel, says that on Khakassiian territory several religious associations "have directly violated the law on freedom of religious profession." Cited as an example are the activities conducted by the "Proslavlenie" church involving foreigners as well as activity of the church among prisoners. As regards ELM, the procurator of Shirin district, in which the settlement is located, is mandated to conduct verification, whether ELM can confirm its fifteen-year term of existence, whether it attracts minors into its activity, etc.

Thus it is quite clear that having lost two rounds [see "Lutheran mission prospering"] for the closure of the Evangelical Lutheran Mission in arbitration courts, the procurator of the republic has again entered the ring in hopes of delivering a knock-out punch against ELM below the belt. Contemporary jargon gives another way of defining such activites. Fr Pavel said: "Judging from this letter, it seems to me that a 'raid' on protestant organizations has been prepared." (tr by PDS)

(2) Shirin Procurator files official protest against Lutherans

by Yuri Kolsenikov, Radiotserkov

NOVOSIBIRSK, 27 March. In his letter to the head of the mission, junior counselor of justice R.E. Chugunekov charged that the showing of Christian films, educating children in the basics of the faith, and contacts with foreign citizens is illegal activity, on the basis that such activity is a violation of the "Law on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations" in the case of organizations that do not have a certificate showing their registration for more than fifteen years within the region.

The director of the west Siberian Christian Mission in Novosibirsk, Fr Vsevolod Lytkin, also received from the Shirin procurator an official notice requiring amendment of the charter of the Evangelical Lutheran Mission in Khakasiia which was extremely amazing. As Fr Vsevolod told the Radiotserkov reporter, actually several years ago Pavel Zaiakin was sent to this district of the republic of Khakasiia as a missionary from the west Siberian Christian mission. However, from the time of the registration of ELM, it was a legally independent organization. From the point of view of the director of the west Siberian mission, the procurator's demand for immediate cessation of the activity of ELM as illegal, is itself illegal, since the mission conducts this activity in accordance with its charter, and the law defers the reregistration of that charter for at least a year and a half. At the present, said Fr Vsevolod, work is going on to change the charter, and Mr. Chugunekov was informed of this.

Vsevolod Lytkin evaluates the present situation for ELM in Khakasiia as "strange." "I do not understand what these people need," he said, referring to the Shirin procurator. "This letter is quite strange, completely absurd, and obviously is simply a manifestation of the activity of the district procurator." (tr. by PDS)

(3) Authorities Continue Campaign Against Lutherans in Siberia

by Lawrence A. Uzzell, Keston News Service

Apr 2, 1998

Authorities in the republic of Khakassia are continuing their attempts to close the Lutheran congregation in Tuim despite two successive court rulings in the parish's favour. This month the mission's pastor PAVEL ZAYAKIN received two warning letters - one from the local procuracy for the Shira district and another from the republican procuracy in Khakassia's capital Abakan.

The letter from Abakan, dated 23 March, announced the republican procuracy's intent to seek a ruling from an appeals court on its so far unsuccessful lawsuit to have the parish's 1996 registration declared invalid. If the republican authorities should win this case, the precedent would give them and officials in other Russian provinces a new weapon against religious minorities: the power to send officers of the security agencies into the homes of believers to intimidate them into renouncing their signatures as 'founders' of local congregations. (See Keston News Service, 13 March 1998.)

The local procuracy's letter, dated 12 March, pursued a different line of attack. The local authorities accused the Lutheran mission of breaking the new 1997 law on religion by inviting children to its activities and by distributing religious literature in hospitals. They also wrote that several provisions of the parish's charter, such as its section on international contacts, contradict the new law and must be repealed.

In a reply to the 12 March letter, pastor Zayakin called his parish the legal successor to Lutheran congregations that existed in the Shira district as long ago as 1941. According to interpretations of the new law often heard from Russian government spokesmen in their conversations with western diplomats and journalists - but not codified in the formal, official regulations issued earlier this month - the two-year-old mission should therefore be deemed to have met the controversial '15-year rule'.

EVANGELICAL CHURCH IN BARNAUL EVICTED

BARNAUL, 28 APRIL. The "New Life" church of Christians of Evangelical Faith in Barnaul was expelled from a rented movie theatre. The pertinent order arrived from the city department of culture. According to Stanislav Savchuk, bishop of the churches of Christians of Evangelical Faith for the West Siberian region, officials based their decisions on the claim that the believers' meetings interfered with the work of discussion groups. However, those groups usually meet in classrooms and not in the auditorium. Thus the real causes for this step by the city authorities remain a matter of speculation.

We add that the expulsion was not only an extremely unexpected surprise for the church but also it created a substantial loss. The point is that by agreement with the director of the theatre the parishioners had made capital repairs on the building at their own expense, which amounted to about 50 million old rubles. In return they got the right to rent for five years. But it turned out that the believers have been left without their premises and without their money. True, the director promised to return it, but when will a poor institution of culture get such a sum?

After the sad experience Stanislav Savchuk tried to meet with someone of the leadership of Barnaul, with the mayor or his assistant on relations with religious organizations. An appointment was made but then it was unexpectedly cancelled on the basis that they were tied up. Thus Stanislav Savchuk was able only to assemble all ministers of the city churches of various confessions for united fellowship and prayer. Many brothers at this meeting agreed that the main problem which is bothering them at present is the restrictions on churches from the side of the authorities. True, by contrast with recent experience these now seem mild. In conclusion the brothers prayed, inter alia, for unity and that the churches of various confessions would not condemn but support and bless one another.

It remains to say that the New Life church has reached an agreement with another theatre for rent of the auditorium. We shall follow the development of these events and we recall that a similar story recently unfolded in Novokuznetsk, where the church of Christians of Evangelical Faith also experienced a sudden eviction from a movie theatre. (Vadim Akentiev, Kemerovo)

New details of eviction of church in Barnaul

by Vadim Akentiev, Radiotserkov

BARNAUL, 6 May. The New Life church of Christians of Evangelical Faith in Barnaul has suddenly become a "bum," as they call people without a definite place of residence. The church has been subjected to eviction from the rented movie theatre Chaika by order of the city department of culture. The parishioners had to surrender the auditorium, office, and room for prayer very quickly, according the Pastor Andrei Saveliev, because the director of Chaika had to shorten the deadline for eviction from two months to four days, under threat of dismissal.

Although finding a new place in such a short time is very difficult, the parishioners until recently had hoped that they would be taken in by the House of Culture of the auto factory, which they had occupied last year. However, despite the readiness of the director of the House of Culture to renew the cooperation, he had to refuse the church. Andrei Saveliev said that the administration of the factory decided this because the mayor's office recommended that they not permit "New Life" in the door. One other possibility remains; the director of still another movie theater offered herself to let the church locate in her place. But this hope also quickly evaporated; the same mayor's office intervened. In sum, next Sunday 300 parishioners of New Life church will hold services under the open sky. Andrei Saveliev tried to meet with the administrator of the same department of culture, but the latter refused to meet. He wasn't able to meet with the directors of the department on relations with religious organizations of the administration of Altai territory. The authorities have been silent in response to letters from the parishioners requesting that the situation be investigated.

The official reason for the eviction of the congregation is known: the Chaika theatre is being converted to a youth recreational center. Incidentally, the pastor of the now homeless church does not oppose this. "Interest group work, choreography, and the like, are all healthy," he said. "Moreover, the theatre is in an area where the situation for children's recreation is complex. But some kind of compromise could be found. . . ." Obviously, not only could it be, but it must be! Especially since the decision to make a youth center in Chaika occurred to the bureaucrats only after the church had recovered this theatre from ruins. It had not been used for three years and was in decrepit conditions and the auditorium was partially destroyed. By agreement with the director of the movie house the parishioners at their own expense made capital repairs to the building, spending on this more than 40 million old rubles. In exchange they got the right to five years rental. But in exchange the church was, as they say, cast to the winds.

It remains to add that this year the church mearks its seventh year. Among its parishioners are people for many different ages and social classes. Physicians and teachers, heroes of socialist labor and former drug addicts. By the way, the church conducts substantial work with the last group. Or it did? For now New Life is a big question mark. (tr. by PDS)

CONGREGATIONS DENIED USE OF PREMISES.

(1) Pentecostal congregation in Izmailovsky (south of Moscow) expelled from its meeting room

Roman Lunkin, Keston News Service

Mar. 10, 1998

A Pentecostal congregation has been expelled from the schoolroom which it had been renting for evening and Sunday worship services in Izmailovsky, just south of Moscow. Since November the 'Zion' congregation headed by pastor IGOR TSYPAK has been meeting in its members' private flats.

GENNADI PERENSKY, director of the Izmailovsky high school, told Keston News Service that in mid-October he received a telephone call from GALINA MOROZOVA, superintendent of schools for the Lenin district of the Moscow oblast, demanding that he expel Pastor Tsypak's congregation. He reluctantly obeyed, giving the Pentecostals only two weeks' notice. On 1 November the congregation left the school.

Pastor Tsypak told Keston that the local officials in Izmailovsky had previously had good relations with the Pentecostals. But he said that as soon as Russia's new law on religion took effect in October 1997, the pro-Communist authorities in the city of Vidnoye, the Lenin district's administrative centre, used it to put pressure on the school. He c

(2) Moscow, 29 April. On 28 April the pastor of the "Source of Life" Christian Center congregation in Moscow was denied use of premises based on the claim that they pray in various tongues and the services are unlike the services of the Russian Orthodox church. This was explained to the pastor by the director of the Molodezhny movie theatre, specifying that he had been phoned by the new prefect of the region, who had visited the movie theatres and demanded the cancellation of the lease for the premises which the church had contracted for their meeting. He claimed that there were complaints from residents of the region who did not like the services of the Pentecostal church. "We are not frustrated by this," Pastor Laine Arens told the Radiotserkov reported in an interview; "we trust the Lord and believe that he has a better alternative for us." (Liliia Solomonova, Moscow)

(3) Venev, Tula Region, 23 April (Radiotserkov). The administration of the Venev district has issued an order forbidding the use of buildings and premises that are governmental property for religious services. This prohibition pertains to all religious confessions, but its initial applications have affected two local congregations of Evangelical Christians-Baptists and Seventh-day Adventists. Until recently their services have been conducted in the premises of the city movie theatre.

Such stern measures are justified by the local authorities on the basis of the provisions of the new federal law on freedom of conscience. For example, the commissioner for religious questions of the administration of Tula region, Igor Shelopaev, was irritated by the fact that in the past few years "protestants have turned educational and instructional institutions into religious center." However it is more likely that the cause arises from the fact that local budgets do not get a kopek from the rent of premises inasmuch as all agreements are oral, that is, semilegal. (Dmitry Suslov, Kazan). (tr. by PDS)

(4) Beleaguered church awaits police clubs

by Vadim Akentiev, Radiotsekov, Kemerovo

NOVOKUZNETSK, 7 May. Last Sunday the church of Christians of Evangelical Faith "On the Rock" in Novokuznetsk was forced to hold services outside. The director of the movie theatre cancelled its lease on the basis of an oral directive from the head of the city, Sergei Martin. The latter, besides, somewhat earlier had refused to permit this church to build its own building. According to Pastor Ilia Bantseev, the mayor is persuaded that only the Orthodox church has the right to build in his town, and although he does not oppose the meetings of the Pentecostals, they will not get a parcel of land. The convictions of Sergei Martin caused the church to lose 50 million old rubles that had been spent on preparation of the planning documents. We recall that permission for this preparation had been signed by Sergei Martin three years ago, when he still was acting mayor.

The misfortunes for the "On the Rock" KhVE church, it seems, have just begun inasmuch as its recent services outside may be considered to be administrative violations of law. Although the pastor a month ago submitted an application for conducting such an event, when the threat of eviction was raised, he never got permission from the district authorities. Despite this, the street meeting apparently got heavenly sanction since for the whole two hours two police cars were parked alongside the parishioners but the Sunday meeting come off peacefully. Besides, the Saturday snow and rain were followed the next day by clear, warm weather. And the location had been selected propitiously--the central alley of the district, where usually there are many people strolling. As always, a musical group sang and loudspeakers carried Christian hymns to the distant yards. True, the pastor at the beginning of his sermon had to explain to interested passersby and to those people who were watching from the windows of their homes that the parishioners had assembled here not by their own choice. Overall the commander of the police division was solicitous and did not begin to break up the unsanctioned event, but simply maintained order. Now the members of the church intend to hold such services regularly and they are prepared for the authorities to be quite displeased.

The State Duma has reacted to the events in Novokuznetsk. Valery Borshchev, deputy of the president of the duma committee on affairs of public associations and religious organizations, who also is the president of the chamber on human rights and president of the political consultative council of the presidency of RF, sent a letter to the governor of Kemerovo region, Aman Tuleev. In it Valery Borshchev asks that the Novokuznetsk "On the Rock" KhVE church be granted a parcel for construction. Aman Tuleev commissioned his deputy for construction Viktor Neustroev to deal with this. The latter immediately sent to the duma an extremely vague reply, from which only one thing is clear: "the head of the city of Novokusnetsk is authorized to review the determination of the question of the construction of the church." The head himself received this directive a full month ago. But the mayor's office met with silence all attempts of Pastor Ilia Bantseev to learn whether this has been fulfilled.

As regards those losses which the church bore because of the convictions of the head of the city, Sergei Martin (and we recall the sum runs to 50 million old rubles), the pastor does not want to file suit in court. Although he was advised to do this even in the regional administration, specifically by Nadezhda Kriukova, president of the department on relations with the public, the parishioners hope that the authorities will nevertheless respect their desire to resolve the conflict by peace means. Moreover, since our country, according to Ilia Bantseev, still is far from a government of law, it would hardly be possible to match swords with the mayor but rather they would create new problems for themselves, especially since in a private conversation with the bishop of KhVE churches in western Siberia, Stanislav Savchuk, the mayor of Novokuznetsk warned about the futility of attempts to sue him in court.

However there is no doubt that after several outdoors services the attention of the public will be drawn to the trials of the parishioners. Besides the Moscow program Vremechko is preparing to deal with the persecuted church. So Pastor Ilia Bantseev is writing a new letter to the State Duma to report that in the aftermath of its intervention the situation for the church has become more difficult. It is quite possible that next Sunday the administration of the district will show its diligence and the police will nevertheless be forced to resort to clubs and disperse the parishioners.

Of course, now their prayers are filled with tears. But these still are tears of thanksgiving, thanks to God that he is able to turn even such problems for believers into good. The first street service of the beleaguered church, at which there were 150 of its members, attracted around 15 passersby. They stood through all two hours, although previously they never had been at this church. At the end of the meeting five of them decided to repent and accept Jesus Christ into theri hearts as Lord and Savior. (tr. by PDS)

OTHER PROBLEMS FOR RELIGIOUS BELIEVERS AND MISSIONARIES

NEWSPAPER ATTACK ON SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS

CHURCH "GUILTY" OF EVERYTHING, or HOW "SLANDER" REPRODUCES

by Anatoly Pogasy, Christian Legal Service

Dmitry Suslov, Radiotserkov

KAZAN. 21 February. In November 1997 two newspapers in Kazan undertook a standard attempt to denigrate the protestant churches active in the city. This time their target was the church of Seventh-day Adventists. Actually the topic of discussion was a matter that unfortunately has become typical in contemporary Russian life and dealt with the way a certain Olga Tkacheva, who was unwell mentally, first killed her son Sasha and then committed suicide. [See "Insane believer kills son"] However from somewhere the rumor arose about a link between the deceased and the Adventist church, and the secular journalists, greedy for such "sensation," couldn't pass it up. Profoundly distorting the facts, they first associated the tragedy in the Tkachev family with distinctives of the Adventist belief system and besides this lumped the Adventists with the most aggressive and criminal sects.

Not only did the accusations of the writers lacked foundation but, as we hope to show convincingly, they were simply absurd in every respect. They testify that either that the writers are completely incompetent in the matters about which they have written or all of these articles were made to order and the writers merely put their signatures on previously prepared materials. Judge for yourself.

In "Voices ordered: kill your loved one," Ilia Doronin (Vecherniaia Kazan, 18 November 1997) writes: "Valentina Tkacheva attended meetings of the Seventh-day Adventists for a long time." The same was maintained in Liudmila Kolesnikov's article "Kill yourself and your children--these are the sacrifices the Lord calls for" (Vecherniaia Kazan, 21 November 1997) and in the item by a reporter in another newspaper, Kazanskie vedomosti, Alsu Mubarashkina, "Mama declared that her son is a devil," of 19 November 1997. It is simply amazing that not one of the three reporters knows that the church of Seventh-day Adventist Christians (ASD) has a precisely defined membership and thus information about members of the church is recorded in church books. Actually--and it is very easy to confirm this--Tkacheva never was a member of the Kazan ASD church nor was she registered in the church books; moreover no member of the church knows her nor has ever seen her!

The "red thread" that goes through all three articles is the idea that Tkacheva committed the murder as a result of extended fasts and night-time prayers: "Members of this sect deprive themselves with long, so-called dry hunger . . ." (I. Doronin); "Adventist teaching includes extended abstaining when it is forbidden to drink or eat. And, of course, continual prayers which, naturally, could not but have an effect upon the psychology of this family" (A. Mubarashkina). Pinprick upon a pinprick. In contrast to Orthodoxy, Islam, and some protestant denominations, to say nothing of cults and false religious sects, where extended fast are practiced in various forms with or without the consumption of fasting food, the Adventists have no specifically Adventist teaching about fasting. Fasts are undertaken extremely rarely, in connection with some important matter, and they last, as a rule, no more than a day.

As regards "interminable prayers," the prayer life of Adventists is no different from the prayer life of Orthodox or Muslims. If one does not even open specifically Adventist literature but only learns from atheistic literature, one can read about Adventist meetings the following: "Evening meetings should begin always at the appointed hour with congregational singing and a brief prayer. . . . Such regular meetings are supposed to occur two or three times a week" (A.V. Belov. Adventizm. Moscow, 1973, p. 202). The order of Sabbath services established by the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventist Christians in 1932 said: "Song, reading of holy scripture, prayer, collection and fellowship, congregational or choral singing, sermon, song, benediction, a moment of silent prayer by congregation." That's the way it is; neither in the doctrine nor the practice of Adventist Christians are there either "enervating fasts," or "interminable nighttime prayers."

The item in the Kazanskie vedomosti directly links Tkacheva's crime with the teaching of the church of Seventh-day Adventist Christians: "The religious sect is guilty in all of this. . . This woman attended the 'sect of Seventh-day Adventists' and hourly instilled the bases of the "righteous" doctrine into her children." The connection of the church's teachings with the murder of Sasha and Tkacheva's suicide is indicated in the title of Kolsenikova's article: "Kill yourself and your children--these are the sacrifices the Lord calls for." These assertions reveal either the completely fabricated falsehood or the ignorance of the writers on matters of protestant teaching as a whole and Adventist teaching in particular with regard to human life. The biblical command "Do not kill" has, for Adventists, absolute force, without exception. Many young believers even refuse to serve in the army on this basis. Moreover, love for God and people, according to Adventist doctrine, is the motivating force of transformation of human relationships and it alone can bring the world to righteousness, etc.

Could such teaching lead to the idea of murder of a person, let alone one's own child? No, it cannot. One should think that the writers of the articles understood this as well, but their desire for sensation forced them to close their eyes to obvious facts.

The article by Kolesnikova deserves special attention. Beginning from the establisment of the occurance of a crime, the writer goes on to express concern about the growth of new religions in Russia, which includes the ASD church. However, to assign Adventism to the "new" religion category can be done only with qualification, inasmuch as it had spread through Russia back in the second half of the nineteenth century. Without any basis Kolesnikova assigns Adventists, one of the oldest protestant confessions of Christianity, to the category of cults that have nothing to do with Christianity (the church of Moon, Scientology, the church of Vissarion, "Children of God," etc.). While by mentioning the Adventists in the title "Dawn of crime in a new location," the writer thereby accuses them beforehand of the commission of some illegal activities, which calls into question the reputation of the church as a spiritual guide of people which instructs them to obey the state's laws.

The Kazan ASD church, naturally, is unwilling to tolerate the accusations that the reporters have made against it. On 19 February it filed in court a lawsuit against the above-named reporters and the periodical publications, for protecting its reputation and recovery of moral damages. We certainly will report the outcome of the judicial proceedings. (tr. by PDS)

NEWSPAPER ATTACK ON SIBERIAN BAPTISTS

PROVINCIAL PRESS ATTACKS BAPTISTS

by Evgeny Sarapulov, Radiotserkov

CHITA, 30 March. In January 1998 the trans-Baikal newspaper "Daurskoe News" published an article titled "Deceit on the Road to God." Its author was a certain D. Ivashkeev, resident of the city of Borz, Chita region, who in his article advanced a mass of accusations against the local Borz church of Evangelical Christians-Baptists.

Ivashkeev accused Baptists of sectarianism, claiming that the celebration of the 130th anniversary of the beginning of the Baptist movement in Russia was a lie. However, the most serious accusation was that "while proclaiming religious purposes, the church of Evangelical Christians-Baptists sharply separates itself from all traditional confessions. It often draws people into its midst by illegal means and devices that are non-Orthodox. It distorts Biblical teaching and interprets it in its own way. It opposes the holy sacraments, prayers for the dead, veneration of icons, fasts, monasticism, and many other things. In other words, everything that for centuries has served to unite and consolidate peoples and societies, to form Christian morality in them, and to make people benevolent, decent, tolerant, generous, happy, and pure before God and their own nation."

In a word, there were many accusations and they were rather serious. As for the facts, in the time of its existence the local Baptist church in Borz has not soiled itself in any way. In 1997 it marked its fiftieth anniversary. Citizens of the city have seen in practice that Christians-Baptists are proper and God-fearing believers. However, someone wants to slander the church.

The presbyter of the Borz church of Evangelical Christians-Baptists, V. Miskevich, wrote a response article and proposed the broadcast of a round table on the local TV stateion dealing with problems of sectarianism and faith to which Orthodox priests would be invited. But for some unknown reasons this event was postponed indefinitely. In March another accusatory article against the Baptists appeared. (tr. by PDS)

ORTHODOX BOOKLET SLANDERS PROTESTANTS

by Yuri Kolesnikov

Radiotserkov

NOVOSIBIRSK, 2 March. For the religious public of Novosibirsk, the past year of 1997 was marked by, among other things, the appearance of a brief guide, "Religion and sects in contemporary Russia," published by the Information and Consultation Center on Problems of Sectarianism of the cathedral of St. Alexander Nevsky, known commonly as the "Antisectarian Center." Local mass media have stated that this guide was intended for use within the civic and military administrations.

The issuance of informational literature which can objectively reflect the various forms and types of religious devotion is certainly needed. However, unfortunately, the publication of a brief guide that bears the stamp of a clearly expressed prejudicial approach to the selection of information does not fulfill the basic need that such literature is intended to: an impartial statement of facts with citations from reliable and authoritative sources of the information included. The guide's introduction itself is filled with a spirit of the opposition of Orthodox doctrine, as the true faith, to other denominational confessions. While the opposition itself is based upon a pattern reminiscent of the usual propaganda of "agit-prop" workers, who were employed in their time by the atheistic regime in its struggle with dissident thinkers, of the type: "the cruder, the more reliable." A clear example of this appears on the fourth page which purports to be a citation from a speech of former director of the CIA Allen Dulles: "We have invested everything we have, all the gold and material might, into deceiving and bamboozling the Russian people . . . . We have created chaos and confusion in the administration of the state. Honesty and decency will be ridiculed and no one will heed them. . . . Boorishness and impudence, lies and deception, alcoholism and drug addiction, mutual fear and lawlessness, betrayal, nationalism and ethnic hostility--all of these we shall cleverly and covertly cultivate . . . and we will always focus on the youth and begin to lure and corrupt them."

Such a citation itself from an unreliable source (a reference is made to obviously propangadistic material of an overtly chauvinistic type "Awake, Russia, and Rise Up! The Ecological War against Russia," published by "Moskvitianin," 1994), placed in the introduction of an informational tool, which should not be serving as a "cold war" instrument, is improper. Moreover it expresses a painfully familiar approach of transfering guilt from the "sick mind to the healthy" in an attempt to attribute all the problems and disorders of contemporary Russia to the "external enemy." And the approach itself of several guides reminds one more of effluence of garbage than of an objective illumination of the worship forms and rituals of religious devotion that typify one or another confession. For example, the reference to the adherents of the teachings of the Seventh-day Adventists is outlined: Characteristics, History of the sect, Doctrine, Criminal activity. The category "Criminal activity" includes newspaper material of a slanderous nature which in the intention of the writers is supposed to give evidence of the criminal inclination of the particular religious confession.

Besides this, the brochure which claims to be a guide to the religious situation of contemporary Russia reveals the incompetence of the writers, who include among Russian Baptists, for example, organizations that are not characteristic for them, such as "Christian Baptists," "Baptist Dunkers," "Baptists of the Six Principles," etc.

In connection with the publication of this book the Association of Churches of Evangelical Christians-Baptists of Novosibirsk, Kemerovo, and Tomsk regions prepared an appeal which will be sent to the Moscow patriarchate and Patriarch Alexis II of all-Russia with copies to the local diocesan administration and the Moscow Institute of Religion and Law. It notes, in particular, that the "contents of this guide with regard to several Christian confessions promote misunderstanding by their inaccuracy and incompetence" and that "special concern is evoked by the assertion that Baptists 'maintain a negative attitude toward civic obligations.'"

One can only regret that this brief guide "Religion and sects in contemporary Russia," which tries to promote the aspirations of the Russian Orthodox church (Moscow patriarchate) to become the general state religion, has robbed itself of what is most important, the confidence of many readers of other confessions who are offended by being associated with the adherents of the satanic cult. (tr. by PDS)

MORMON MISSIONARIES KIDNAPPED

(1) Missionaries abducted in Russia

By The Associated Press (March 20^th 1998)

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Two young Mormon missionaries were abducted from their post in Russia, the church said.

Andrew Lee Propst, 20, of Lebanon, Ore., and Travis Robert Tuttle, 20, of Gilbert, Ariz., lived and traveled together.

They were serving in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' Russia Samara Mission about 500 miles southeast of Moscow on the Volga River, church spokesman Don LeFevre said Thursday. He gave few other details.

A ransom note demanding $300,000 was left on the doorstep of a church member after the men were abducted Wednesday, said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah.

LeFevre said the church has taken steps to ensure the safety of the other 60 to 100 missionaries in the Samara Mission, but he would not elaborate.

Russia's Federal Security Service, the main successor to the KGB, and the Interior Ministry, which is responsible for the police force, have set up a joint investigative team to search for the two men.

Police in Samara refused to comment.

``All we can do is rely on faith that they're going to come home to us in safety and that our savior is by their side at this time,'' said Roy Tuttle, Travis' father.

The Propst family expressed pride in Andrew's decision to serve the mission and said his letters over the past year ``have testified to his deep commitment.''

The church has about 57,000 full-time missionaries worldwide and six missions in Russia with 600 to 800 missionaries and more than 5,000 members.

Last year, Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed a proclamation declaring Russian Orthodoxy his country's pre-eminent faith and sharply limiting the practice of some religions until they had been established for at least 15 years.

(2) Kidnapped Mormon missionaries freed in Russia, officials say

New York Times, 23 March 1998

MOSCOW (Reuters)- Two U.S. Mormon Church missionaries abducted in Russia's Saratov region were freed Sunday with only minor injuries, although no ransom was paid, officials said.

"The hostages have been freed. They are feeling all right," said a spokesman for the local Federal Security Service, a successor to the Soviet KGB.

The U.S. Embassy in Moscow said the two men, abducted Thursday, had been slightly hurt.

"Travis Robert Tuttle and Andrew Lee Propst were taken immediately to the police station to be debriefed and are at this time still in Saratov helping the police with their investigation," it said in a statement.

"Both men are in good condition, with only minor injuries."

The Federal Security Service spokesman confirmed the pair had been freed without the payment of a ransom but declined to give further details. The abductors reportedly had asked for a $300,000 ransom.

"We have no reason to believe that any ransom was paid," U.S. Embassy spokesman Richard Hoagland said.

The hostage-takers drove to the outskirts of Saratov, the regional capital, and released the two men there, a local police duty officer said.

Tuttle, 21, of Gilbert, Arizona, and Propst, also 21, of Lebanon, Oregon, were working for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in southern Russia.

In the Phoenix suburb of Gilbert, Tuttle's father, Roy, called the release of the two men "a miracle" brought about by faith in God.

He said he learned of their release at 4 a.m. MST (6 a.m. EST) through a telephone call from church officials in Salt Lake City. Six hours later, Tuttle and his wife, Mary, had a three- to four-minute phone conversation with their son.

"He was absolutely ecstatic to be in safe hands," Tuttle told reporters. "He was in good spirits. He was thrilled beyond comprehension to know that he was alive."

(3) Some Russians believe abduction part of a scheme

by Michael Nakoryakov

The Salt Lake Tribune, Monday, March 23, 1998

When two young Mormon missionaries, Andrew Lee Propst and Travis Robert Tuttle, were abducted in the southeastern Russian city of Saratov last week, most officials and commentators in Russia and the United States agreed that, most likely, the kidnapping had nothing to do with politics or religion.

Amid Saratov's widespread poverty and apathy toward the political battles that rage in faraway Moscow, the likely scenario was some small-time criminals tried to make a quick buck by grabbing the two well-dressed, well-fed and supposedly well-off Americans.

But when, after only a few days, the kidnappers suddenly let the hostages go unharmed and without waiting for the $300,000 ransom they demanded, that version of events began to appear unbelievable.

Anatoly Pchelintsev, head of the Institute of Religion and Law of Moscow's Christian Legal Center, doesn't buy the "local hoods" version. He did not believe it in the first place, he said on Sunday.

"There is no question in my mind that it was a provocation by those in the country who refuse to accept freedom of belief and civilized coexistence of different religious denominations," Pchelintsev said from Moscow.

"Did you hear what [Saratov region's governor Dmitri] Ayatskov said on television when those boys were kidnapped? He said the Mormons had no business in his region anyway, and he'll make sure �all those missionaries and sects' are kicked out of there in the nearest future," he said.

Pchelintsev's institute, created to monitor the religion-related laws produced by the Russian Parliament and local elected bodies for compliance with the country's constitution, has been involved for years in an uphill battle with Moscow lawmakers.

For instance, Pchelintsev sees the Law on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations -- approved by both chambers of the Russian Parliament and signed by President Boris Yeltsin last summer -- as one of his 7-year-old institute's major defeats.

"You don't need to be a lawyer to see that a law that severely restricts the activities of most non-Orthodox denominations directly contradicts the Russian Constitution's guarantee of freedom of conscience," Pchelintsev said.

"[The Parliament] couldn't send KGB officers to arrest the missionaries in the middle of the night -- the times have changed since Stalin. So they opted to send a signal through provocations like the one in the Volga area," he said.

Not everybody in Russia agrees with Pchelintsev. The Russian Parliament may contain a significant number of Communist lawmakers, but in the case of the Freedom of Conscience bill, only a small Parliament faction -- the semi-liberal Yabloko -- voted against it.

The legislation received solid support among all the lawmakers, from communists and conservatives to liberals and nationalists.

"Claiming the abduction of the Mormons was part of a broad conspiracy to get rid of foreign missionaries is ridiculous," police reporter Andrei Shabarshov said from Moscow.

"All that happened was those [kidnappers] probably didn't realize at first what they were dealing with," he said.

"Then they saw the governor on TV, and heard about the FBI sending their agents here to help Russian cops investigate, just got frightened and decided to let the boys go rather than mess around with all that.

"Russians just love conspiracies," he said.

That might be true, Pchelintsev said, but how can one explain a strange coincidence -- only a few days ago, the usually tight-lipped Russian Interior Ministry announced through all major news media that somebody had threatened to mark the anniversary of Aum Shinri Kyo's gassing of the Tokyo subway with the release of a poisonous gas in the Moscow subway.

"That was spectacular -- we had hundreds of cops guarding every subway station, there were announcements on the radio, really scary stuff," he said.

"For two days, people were afraid to use the subway, and everybody was talking of the need to ban �all those sects.' . . . Then, of course, nothing happened. And then -- Saratov. I just can't believe that was coincidental."

With numerous foreign and domestic sects and cults present in Russia these days, many people fail to make a distinction between established religions that have been accepted worldwide and violent doomsday cults like Aum Shinri Kyo.

But it may not be time for the missionaries to leave Russia yet, Pchelintsev said. No matter how much the authorities, together with the Orthodox Patriarchy, would like to see all of them gone, the game is not over yet.

"My message is, don't panic. I am convinced that there is a good chance we will successfully appeal the Freedom of Conscience law in the Constitutional Court of Russia. As a matter of fact, I can say right now that will happen in the fall," he said.

"So time to start packing has not come yet."

(courtesy of Ray Prigodich, Denver Serminary)

MISSIONARIES FACE KIDNAPPING DANGERS

Contrasting Fates for Foreign Missionaries Kidnapped in Russia

by Felix Corley, Keston News Service

Mar 25, 1998

Worldwide attention has been given to the case of two young Mormon missionaries kidnapped on 19 March in Saratov region and freed three days later. The two 21-year-old men, TRAVIS ROBERT TUTTLE and ANDREW LEE PROPST, both United States citizens, had suffered only minor injuries during their ordeal. Law enforcement agencies in Saratov said a note demanding 300,000 US dollars had been left with a church member, but in the end the hostage-takers dumped the two men by the side of the road on the edge of Saratov without any money changing hands. In the wake of the kidnapping, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints said it had taken immediate steps to ensure the safety of its other missionaries in the region.

The fate of the two men was closely followed by the Federal Security Service and by the US State Department and the US Embassy in Moscow, as well as by the media around the world. By contrast, the fate of two Swedish Pentecostal Christians kidnapped while working as missionaries in the North Caucasian region of Dagestan has received far less attention outside their native Sweden.

The pair, DANIEL and PAULINA BROLIN, were seized late on 8 January in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan, which borders Chechnya. They had been walking back to the apartment they rented in the town centre when they were seized. The Brolins, both believed to be aged 21, are from the central Swedish town of Vasteras and represent the Pentecostal church there and were students at a Pentecostal Church school.

A short video, apparently of the Brolins, was shown on Swedish television news on 18 March. 'We are here. It's going well but we want to leave. We miss you all,' said the young man in Swedish. The woman standing next to him said: 'I also want to leave. But God is good and is helping us.' The two looked healthy but expressionless. The Swedish Foreign Ministry, which has been involved in trying to secure the hostages' release, said the tape could be up to two months old. 'The video is old, filmed perhaps as long ago as January or early February,' foreign ministry spokesman JENS ODLANDER declared.

'While we are pursuing all leads, we are not at all certain who is holding the Brolins captive or even if they require a ransom as a condition for their release,' Odlander said last week. Referring to a mission to the region by representatives of the Swedish embassy in Moscow, he added: 'We are hoping that we can nail down some of the specifics during this upcoming trip and move as close as possible to the release of the Brolins.'

The Brolins' church in Vasteras had received a videotape of the couple in mid-February, apparently from the kidnappers, although both it and the foreign ministry declined to specify exactly what was on the tape. It seems this is the video that has now been broadcast on Swedish television.

The north Caucasus region of southern Russia has been plagued by kidnappings, many though not all of which have taken place in the breakaway republic of Chechnya. Chechnya's separatist authorities have pledged to stop the rash of abductions. Two British, one Russian and two Hungarian aid workers are among those still being held by various kidnappers, who often demand huge ransoms for their captives. Five Polish aid workers were released in early February after nearly two months as hostages.

Baltimore-based International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC) learned on 24 March that one of their kidnapped aid workers, 48- year-old Russian citizen DMITRI PENKOVSKY, has been released to his family in Vladikavkaz, the capital of North Ossetia. Penkovsky's