Baptists in Russia are increasingly experiencing difficulties when trying to rent premises or build a religious building

organization International Religious Freedom Watch, Lawrence Yuzzell, head of the public draws attention to the fact that Russian local officials often refuse to allocate land plots for the construction of religious buildings to Baptist communities, and also do not allow them to rent halls in cinemas and cultural centers. Due to the impossibility of finding premises in Moscow alone, 10 Baptist communities actually ceased to exist. According to L. Yuzzell, the situation has worsened compared to the 1990s.

In a conversation with him, the head of the Russian Union of Evangelical Christian Baptists, Yuri Sipko, said that, for example, in Volgodonsk, on the instructions of the authorities, the construction of a Baptist prayer house was stopped, despite the fact that believers had received all the necessary permits in advance. According to Yu. Sipko, members of registered communities are increasingly forced to adopt the tactics of "initiators", using houses for their meetings, formally owned by private individuals. At present, Yu. Sipko reported, only 50% of registered Baptist congregations in Russia have their own buildings (including those registered in the name of private owners), the rest have to rent premises - and this is becoming more and more difficult: the refusal of the administration of a cinema or a cultural center to hand over halls for rent to Protestants became the norm.

Y. Sipko also confirmed that it is much more difficult for Baptists than for representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church to obtain permission to hold meetings in schools and military units, however, as it turned out, they are allowed into prisons and colonies more willingly. According to Yu. Sipko, this is due to the fact that the leadership of correctional institutions sees a positive effect from the work of Baptists with prisoners.

Sources

• Uzzell L. Baptist congregations denied full property rights // International Religious Freedom Watch. 2005. November 11.
• Russian authorities are trying to deprive protesters of the opportunity to rent or build buildings, says International Religious Freedom Watch head Larry Yuzzell // Portal-Credo.ru. 2005. November 15.