ABSTRACT
Religious liberty has enjoyed both extraordinary successes and serious challenges in the Russian Federation since 1997, when the current law on religious associations was first adopted. Although by no means a paragon of religious liberty, the Russian Federation represents a complex religious marketplace, where a patchwork of federal and regional laws and regulations offers both dangers and opportunities for those exercising their freedom of conscience. As the successor to both the Orthodox Russian Empire and the atheistic Soviet Union, the contemporary Russian Federation has inherited an ambiguous legacy of policies towards religion. The critics of the proposed reform fear that this increased government scrutiny will naturally lead to greater state control and to the diminution of religious liberty. With their apocalyptic theology and powerful critique of the world order, the Jehovah's Witnesses do not usually present themselves as a 'traditional' religion. Instead, they have vigorously exercised their religious liberty and have defended their rights in court.
