With Fear and Favour: Minority Religions and the Post-Soviet Russian State

The treatment of religious minorities in post-Soviet Russia has been in the spotlight of many international, governmental and non-governmental organizations and has been subject to numerous judicial proceedings at national courts and the European Court of Human Rights. ¹ Taken together, the resulting reports and legal documents portray a pretty gruesome picture of increasingly restrictive legislation, continuous attempts to 'liquidate' a range of religious associations, and local administrations' frequent - almost commonplace - arbitrary action against religious minorities, such as dispossession of property, disruption of religious meetings and refusal of entry to coreligionists from abroad.