RUSSIAN FEDERATION
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Human Rights Issues
08.03.2006 - Source: US Department of State
Reports of harassment of evangelicals and Pentecostals continued ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2005") [#46144], [ID 11509]
"Reports of harassment of evangelicals and Pentecostals continued during the year. Observers testified that churches and prayer houses were vandalized in several regions. A group of Pentecostals holding a demonstration on August 10 in Moscow reported being attacked by a group of youths who yelled "Burn the heretics," while assaulting them and destroying their posters. The Slavic Law Center reported that a Baptist Church in Chelyabinsk Oblast was firebombed on April 30."
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24.08.2005 - Source: Forum 18
Protestant communities wanting to build places of worship face increasing obstruction from state authorities ("Growing obstruction to Protestant church property ownership") [#35919], [ID 11510]
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19.08.2005 - Source: Forum 18
Although law does not prevent religious communities from renting premises for worship, Protestants were increasingly barred from doing so in recent months ("Growing restrictions on rental by Protestants") [#35921], [ID 11511]
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07.12.2004 - Source: Forum 18
Protestants in the southern Krasnodar and Stavropol regions reported that their situation has improved since the 1990s, but several church leaders reported local obstructions in obtaining and using property for worship ("Southern Protestants' mixed fortunes") [#27552], [ID 11512]
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15.03.2004 - Source: Forum 18
2 Pentecostal congregations in Sovetskaya Gavan may lose their places of worship as new mayor cancelled their rental contracts ("Pentecostals & Orthodox to lose buildings on Pacific coast?") [#20446], [ID 11513]
"A 100-strong Pentecostal congregation in the port of Sovetskaya Gavan on Russia's Pacific coast looks set to lose its worship building after the local city council abruptly annulled the contract under which it uses the premises, forcing the church to leave or to pay a much higher "commercial" rent. The church claims it does not have the money to challenge the decision in court or to rent a new building for services. The decision has also affected the Moscow Patriarchate's parish of the Annunciation in a neighbouring village, a secretary at Khabarovsk and Amur Orthodox diocesan offices confirmed to Forum 18 News Service on 15 March. She added that church representatives dealing with the issue are currently away on a work trip and are therefore not available for comment.
[...]
Grace Church, affiliated to the Moscow-based Pentecostal union headed by Pavel Okara, secured use of a two-storey state property in 1999. Under a contract approved by the then mayor, Yuri Grigoryev, and signed by representatives of both the church and local property and housing committees, the building is offered without charge for a period of 20 years on condition that the Pentecostals use it as a place of worship and carry out extensive repairs at their own expense. [...]"
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