Buddhists in Sochi Fined for Meditating without Government Permission

Paul Goble

            Staunton, February 13 – Russia’s Baptists have been fined for baptizing people, its Jehovah’s Witnesses have been fined and even imprisoned for prayer, and now some of its Buddhists have been fined for engaging in meditation without permission, an action the FSB and prosecutors in Sochi argue constitutes “illegal missionary activity.”

            There are upwards of a million Buddhists in Russia, and they are recognized by the government as one of the four “traditional” faiths – the others are Orthodoxy, Islam and Judaism.  But the Buddhists rarely attract attention except when Vladimir Putin greets them on their new year, when they seek to have the Dalai Lama visit, or when they try to erect a stupa in Moscow.

            Most Buryats live in Buryatia, Tuva and Kalmykia far from Russian centers and generally live without much attention, but their faith is attracting many Russians for all the reasons that Buddhism has attracted young people in Western countries. And it likely that trend that has prompted Russian officials to move against them.

            A 32-year-old Sochi resident was fined 5,000 rubles (80 US dollars) for engaging in religious activities including missionary work despite not being registered with the authorities. The man said he did not know he needed to register in order to meditate but would conform with the law in the future (kommersant.ru/doc/3882518 and credo.press/222841/).