December 2009
The Russian Supreme Court declared 34 publications of Jehovah’s Witnesses “extremist”
The Local Religious Organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses “Taganrog” was liquidated
August 2011
A criminal case against 16 Jehovah’s Witnesses in Taganrog was initiated under an article of the law on extremism
April 2013
Searches at the Administrative Center of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia
February 2014
Beginning of systematic planting of “extremist” materials of Jehovah’s Witnesses with subsequent searches
April 2015
Jehovah’s Witnesses are prohibited from importing religious publications into Russia
Millions of magazines are detained by Russian Customs
March 2016
Guilty verdicts for all 16 Witnesses in Taganrog
Their sentence: conditional imprisonment for up to five and a half years
July 2016
A Special Forces armed raid on believers in Karelia
The authorities begin to put pressure on believers in different parts of Russia
20 April 2017
The Russian Supreme Court liquidates all 396 organizations of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia, alleging “extremism”
25 May 2017
The first believer, Dennis Christensen, is sent to a detention center in the city of Oryol
7 December 2017
A St. Petersburg court legalizes the seizure of property where the Administrative Center of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia was located
The property belongs to a foreign owner – Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
20 December 2017
The Leningrad Regional Court declared the Russian translation of the Bible distributed by Jehovah’s Witnesses as “extremist material”
10 April 2018
In the city of Ufa searches are conducted, Anatoly Vilitkevich is sent to a detention center
During the following months dozens of similar searches and arrests took place in Russia. Currently 25 believers are imprisoned.