Jehovah’s Witnesses, fleeing Russia crackdown, seek shelter in Finland
TURKU, Finland — Sergey Avilkin, one of hundreds of Russians sheltering in Finland to avoid arrest as “extremists” in their home country, has no interest in politics and said he has always followed the biblical injunction to “render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s.”
Avilkin, his wife, Lena, their three school-age children and about 300 other Russians scattered in refugee camps and lowrent housing around Finland are a stark reminder of the obstacles that impede his desire to “get along with Russia.”
The Russian court ruling, which put Bible-reading Christians who reject all violence in the same category of extremism as supporters of the Islamic State group, set off a harsh crackdown across Russia. The Jehovah’s Witness headquarters near St. Petersburg was seized by the state, prayer halls around the country were raided by police and scores of believers were arrested.
“What we have seen in Russia since the Jehovah’s Witness organization was banned outright last year is without doubt the most severe crackdown on religious freedom since the Soviet era,” said Geraldine Fagan, author of “Believing in Russia — Religious Policy after Communism.”
“In key respects, it is uncannily reminiscent of late Sovietera practice,” Fagan added.
The State Department said it is “extremely concerned by the Russian government’s action targeting and repressing members of religious minorities, including Jehovah’s Witnesses, under the pretense of combating extremism.”
But Trump, who won the 2016 election with support from evangelical Christians, has remained silent on the matter.
Finland, like the rest of Europe, has years of experience dealing with asylum-seekers, but until Russia branded Jehovah’s Witnesses as extremists, those seeking refuge were largely from the Middle East and Africa.
Anu Karppi, an official in the asylum division of Finland’s immigration service, said 193 Russians applied for asylum in 2016, including homosexuals who said they faced persecution and others who fled for economic reasons. In 2017, after the crackdown on Jehovah’s Witnesses began, that number rose to 405. An additional 240 Russians have applied so far this year. Before 2017, only a handful of Jehovah’s Witnesses from Russia requested asylum in Finland.
Karppi said applicants needed to establish that they faced a real risk, not just a fear, of persecution in order to gain asylum in Finland. The few applications processed so far have been rejected, and Karppi said while Russia certainly was “enforcing measures” against Jehovah’s Witnesses, the severity of the campaign varied from region to region.
“We look at every application case by case,” she said. “At the moment, the situation does not seem to be that every Jehovah’s Witness is under the threat of persecution, but we follow the situation closely. If everyone was being persecuted, then everyone would be granted asylum.”