Russian Religious Discrimination Alleged

Radio Free Europe reports today on a statement by human rights activists meeting in Moscow criticizing Russia's treatment of religious groups other than the Russian Orthodox Church. Pointing to growing signs of intolerance, they allege that law-enforcement officials make it difficult for minority religious groups to find locations for their houses of worship and that visas are increasingly being denied to foreign representatives of religious groups. Synagogues and Baptist churches have been vandalized. Only the Russian Orthodox Church received government funding for church buildings. There is also growing anti-Islamic feelings, stemming largely from the conflict in Chechnya.