U.S. Report Finds Religious Discrimination

The St. Petersburg Times

Published: August 1, 2012 (Issue # 1720)

MOSCOW — Russian authorities broadly respect religious freedoms, but some minority faiths suffer discrimination locally, a new U.S. State Department report said.

The International Religious Freedom Report for 2011, accessible on the State Department website, found that while the Russian Constitution guarantees the right to practice the religion of one’s choice, “laws and policies restrict religious freedom by denying some groups legal status and misidentifying their literature as extremist.”

Among the most significant charges against authorities’ religious tolerance, the report cited the use of extremism charges to target minority faiths and efforts to detain nonconforming believers or deny them access to places of worship.

Of Russia’s roughly 138 million people, about 100 million are Russian Orthodox believers, according to the report.