Moscow, Russia - A U.S. Congress-backed panel has included Russia on its watch list of countries where people's religious freedoms are at risk.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom said the main reason it had put Russia on the watch list of 11 countries was the creation in February of the Justice Ministry's Expert Religious Studies Council, "which was given extremely wide powers to investigate religious organizations, including their activities and literature, for a broad array of reasons, including extremism."
"While governments have a duty to combat acts of violent extremism as part of their obligation to protect citizens, there have been expressions of serious concern over the establishment, as well as the composition and expansive mandate, of this new council," it said in a report released Friday.
The 269-page report, which devotes 15 pages to Russia, also expresses concern that the council's head, prominent anti-cult activist Alexander Dvorkin, lacks academic credentials as a religion specialist, his deputy Roman Silantyev has written articles intolerant of "so-called radical Islam" and the council includes five pro-Russian Orthodox Church members known for attacking Protestant faiths.
The report, posted on the panel's web site, www.uscirf.gov, urges the U.S. government to press Russia to disband the council.
The report also raises concerns about religious liberty in four other former Soviet republics, including Uzbekistan, which has already been designated a "country of particular concern" by the State Department, and Turkmenistan, which the panel recommends being given the designation together with countries like China, North Korea and Saudi Arabia.
With Russia on the watch list are Belarus and Tajikistan.
USCIRF's 2009 Annual Report can be found here.