Population
147 million
81% Russian
4% Tatar
3% Ukrainian
ethnic minorities
Capital City
Moscow
Leadership
President
Vladimir Vladimirovich
Putin
Religion
Russian Orthodox
Islam
Animist
Russian Ambassador
to
the U.S.
Ambassador
Yuri V. Ushakov
Embassy of the
Russian Federation
2650 Wisconsin
Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20007
Phone: (202) 298-5700
Fax: (202) 298-5735
Email:
info@infocentre.ru
Web:
www.russian
embassy.org
BIO
Russia has come a long way in improving its position on religious freedom since the fall of communism. But a
few concerns remain regarding religious restrictions in the
region. The Russian federal government recognizes the
Russian Orthodox Church as its traditional religion, but rather
than allowing full freedoms for minority denominations and faiths
outside the orthodox church, these smaller groups have faced
discrimination from the government itself.
Recent incidents include the revocation of the visa of a Roman
Catholic Bishop (he is one of only four in
the entire country),
and similar actions against foreign-born
priests. In addition to
the problems facing Roman Catholics, the US
Commission on
International Religious Freedom reports
that some "two thou-
sand religious organizations face
liquidation under a restrictive
1997 law requiring registration with the
state."
Many
of the groups have been refused registration, though
they have been actively operating for a
number of years. As in
many similarly restrictive countries, the
usual victims of such
persecution and harassment are evangelical
Christians,
Jehovah's Witnesses and those of the Mormon
faith.
There
also exists, according to the Keston Institute, a state
policy which "refers to the need to
'counter the negative impact
of foreign missionaries,' who some state
officials believe are
western agents bent on destabilizing the
nation and seizing
control of Russia's Far East."
Such
paranoia serves only to exaggerate an already unfair
perception of religious minorities and
missionaries, thus threat-
ening the future of freedom of religion and
worship in Russia.
I'd like to see more
photos
please
Can you recommend some
other Russia web sites?
After determining a decade ago that Russia’s childcare system, its
orphanages, and its institutions were
inadequate, Christian Solidarity Worldwide
was asked to help remedy the problem.
One of the first steps was to get the Russian government to acknowledge
that it had inaccurately been
diagnosing two-thirds of its 750,000
orphans as “oligophrenic,” or mentally handicapped. This
damaging
label virtually stripped that child of all
his or her civil rights – the right to vote, drive, work certain jobs
or
even pursue an education. Many of the
children also faced underdevelopment and malnutrition, among
other problems. CSW’s solution was to
assist the Russian government in developing a new foster care
system, the “Our Family” project.
Having no experience with such an endeavor, the Russian government
provided a building to house
the new foster center, and handed the bulk
of the project over to CSW for development. We began by
selecting professionals from the US and the
UK to train and teach the Russian childcare workers who
would be running the program.
CSW also committed to continually training these workers’, paying
their
salaries and providing supplies for the
center.
The project has been so successful – over 120 children have already been
placed – that the Russian
government is going to use “Our Family”
as a model for further development of their foster care system.
The hope is to eventually phase out the old
institutions altogether, and give every child the hope of a
family to love.