Ukraine: Rebel authorities force Protestant churches to close

According to a report by Forum 18 on 2 February 2020, in December 2019 the authorities of the so-called Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) stated that in their list of 195 registered religious organizations, 188 were from the Russian Orthodox Church Moscow Patriarchate. No Protestant groups appear on the list. A Baptist pastor explained: "Officials argue that they cannot supply gas, electricity and water to organizations that don't officially exist, as they can't have contracts with them." Rolf Zeegers, persecution analyst at World Watch Research (WWR), explains: "Pro-Russian rebels seized parts of Ukraine's Luhansk Region in March 2014 and the following month proclaimed what they called the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR), which is internationally unrecognized. As in the old days of the Soviet Union, the obligation to register with the authorities is being used to make certain Christian activities illegal. No registration means no gas, electricity or water - hence making church activities virtually impossible. Most unregistered groups have not attempted to offer resistance: The Baptist Union, for instance, decided almost a year ago (in March 2019) that its congregations could no longer meet publicly for services."