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SALT LAKE CITY — The LDS Church responded Monday to Russia's new law that forbids public missionary work by changing the assignments of 30 of the 77 volunteers who had been learning Russian at the MTC.
"The church has reassigned 30 volunteers in the Provo Missionary Training Center who were originally called to serve in Russia," said Eric Hawkins, spokesman for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "These volunteers were reassigned to serve in different missions in Russia or to other Russian-speaking missions in Eastern Europe. The remaining 47 volunteers currently in the MTC will proceed to their originally assigned missions in Russia."
Hawkins said the new anti-terrorism law decreased the need for Mormon volunteers in the country. The law, passed in June, requires any proselytizing to happen within houses of worship, effective July 20. In mid-July, the LDS Church changed the roles of those serving missions in Russia. It also instructed mission presidents and families of missionaries who had been or would be serving in Russia to refer to them as volunteers instead of missionaries.
"With recent changes in the law," Hawkins said Monday, "volunteers in Russia may not proselyte publicly, but instead focus on supporting the church and its members, and on engaging in community and humanitarian service. This has decreased the number of volunteers needed and has made it necessary to adjust some assignments."
Hawkins said the church intends to continue to send volunteers to Russia, where more than 22,000 Mormons worship in 100 congregations.
"The church continues to operate its seven missions within Russia — seeking to comply with every requirement of Russian law — and will continue to call additional volunteers as required to support the church there," Hawkins said.
Russian officials detained six American men and women for a few hours in early August. Regional courts deported the volunteers, who had served as missionaries prior to the change in law and church policy, and banned them from the country for five years, alleging they failed to register with migration authorities.
The church repudiated the allegations and called the ruling disproportionate, but courts denied its appeals. Five of the volunteers transferred to a nearby Russian-speaking mission to complete their service. One woman, whose service was nearly complete, returned home.
