State Department Urges Russia to Respect Religious Freedoms

Today, the U.S. State Department said that the Russian Supreme Court's decision to halt the activities of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia is a disturbing act of persecution of religious minorities in the country and called for the abolition of the ban and to respect the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, and beliefs.

“We call on Russian authorities to lift the ban on the activities of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, change the decision to close the Administrative Centre of Jehovah's Witnesses, and release all members of religious minorities who continue to be held unjustly in detention for so-called extremist”, says in the statement, Kosovo Press broadcasts.