Pastors persecuted, parishioners are “worked with”: Russian MP boasted of measures against evangelical churches in the occupied territories

Buildings of Protestant churches in the occupied territories of Ukraine have been “donated to a good cause,” and families of parishioners have been “put on notice” and “worked with.”

As the Russian state news agency TASS reported, Artem Bychaiev, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on the Development of Civil Society, Public and Religious Associations, said this on 5 November at the youth forum Young South in occupied Berdiansk, Zaporizhzhia region.

“Almost all sectarian and near-religious organisations were closed in the first days of the special military operation because most of them fled, we detained those who did not flee, brought them to justice, and are working with them. Their institutions, which are located in the Zaporizhzhia region, as a material base, went to a good cause. Many of them now house homes for women in difficult situations and many other socially orientated institutions,” Bychaiev said.

According to him, the occupation authorities are now “working” with former parishioners of the closed churches, including children. “They are, in fact, zombified,” Bychayev said. “In most cases, these people are put on notice. We take care of many families. …Not only deputies, not only United Russia. This work is carried out by guardianship authorities, that is, social workers. Children from such families are involved and join youth forums, and youth departments of district administrations are actively involve them in all-Russian competitions to bring them to the bigger Russia, to show them a completely different life,” Bychayev added.

TASS claimed that the evangelical churches in Zaporizhzhia region were part of the “intelligence network” of the “West” and were engaged in “extremist activities,” “and some pastors had American citizenship.” After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, “the leadership of certain organisations even demanded that their parishioners spotted fire of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on infrastructure facilities, for example, the airfield in Melitopol.”

The occupation authorities are persecuting clergy of all Christian denominations in Ukraine, except for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which is affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church. However, evangelical Christians appear to be facing the most severe persecution.

In Berdiansk itself, two Baptist churches were closed by Russians in January 2023. One of the churches was searched, documents and keys were taken away, and the pastor was summoned to the commandant’s office.

Building of a Baptist church in Berdiansk. Photo from the website of the All-Ukrainian Union of Evangelical Christian Baptist Churches

“The Berdiansk Church of Evangelical Christians-Baptists celebrated its 115th anniversary in September 2022. Many Soviet-era woes had fallen on its lot. And today, with the arrival of the “Russian world,” these woes are returning again,” the All-Ukrainian Union of Churches of Evangelical Christians-Baptists said in a statement.

In May 2023, the Union reported that one of its houses of worship in Berdiansk had been damaged under unclear circumstances.

Earlier, in December 2022, armed men abducted the head of the Bethel Christian Centre, pastor Serhiy Karpenko, from his home in Berdiansk, and before that, two priests of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Ivan Levytskyi and Bohdan Geleta.

Levitsky and Geleta were returned to Ukraine in June 2024 in exchange for Russian prisoners. Nothing is known about Karpenko.

Ivan Levytskyi and Bohdan Haleta in Russian captivity. Photo from the website of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church

Also in November 2022, in the occupied part of the neighbouring Kherson region, Russians abducted and killed deacon of the Church of Christians of Evangelical Faith, 52-year-old Anatoliy Prokopchuk and his 19-year-old son Oleksandr.

Anatoliy and Oleksandr Prokopchuks. Photo from the website of the Centre for Journalistic Investigations

At the end of March 2022, a rector of a church of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Serhiy Chudynovych, was abducted and tortured for three days in the then-occupied Kherson. Chudynovych told the Zmina Human Rights Centre that he was forced to sign a cooperation agreement.

Serhiy Chudynovych. Photo from the website of the Zmina Human Rights Centre

According to Chudynovych, he was released after he signed the agreement, but as soon as he had the opportunity, he informed the Ukrainian special services about this. In early April 2022, he managed to leave Kherson for the Ukrainian-controlled territory.