Seventh-day Adventist missionaries are among thousands of expatriates in Russia who have expressed concern about a new law on the legal status of foreigners in the country.
Seventh-day Adventist missionaries are among thousands of expatriates in Russia who have expressed concern about a new law on the legal status of foreigners in the country.
According to Valery Ivanov, communication director for the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Euro-Asia region, the exact implications of the law remain unclear. The Russian government is expected to begin requiring special residence permits for foreigners who work in Russia, in addition to the usual entry visas. Officials may also begin enforcing a limit on the total number of foreigners allowed to live in Russia.
“We’ve been told that this law is not targeting Western visitors,” says Ivanov. “So far the Adventist Church is not aware that any of our workers or volunteers from abroad have been refused Russian visas because of the law. For this, we are grateful.”
Viktor Krushenitsky, director of public affairs and religious liberty for the church in Euro-Asia, says, “At this time, I don’t expect any future problems. We have a good relationship with authorities.”
Still, Ivanov says Adventist leaders will watch for new developments in the situation. “Other groups have not been as lucky as we have,” he says. The list of foreign citizens who have been denied visas or deported from Russia in the past year includes Peace Corps volunteers, human rights activists, Catholic priests, Lutheran and other Protestant missionaries, and representatives of nongovernmental organizations. In several cases “national security” was cited as the reason for deportation of undesired visitors.
Only a handful of foreign nationals work at the Adventist Euro-Asia headquarters in Moscow. Most leaders and virtually all local pastors are citizens of Russia, Ukraine or other nearby countries. Ultimately, the new law on foreigners could have the greatest impact on these citizens of former Soviet countries. Until recently, Ukrainians, Moldovans and others were allowed to enter Russia with limited bureaucratic hassles. Now they must fill out special forms at border checkpoints and may have to pay significant fees for permission to work in Russia.
“Of course, the Russian government is trying to prevent the unregulated immigration of inexpensive laborers from other countries,” says Ivanov. “But we hope that the same law will not be used to exclude certain visitors who come to Russia for religious or humanitarian purposes.”