The measures are included in a package of anti-terrorism laws put forward by Deputy Irina Yarovaya and have now been passed by both houses, the Duma and the Federation Council. The law will prohibit evangelism anywhere outside a church or religious site – including private homes and online – and those in breach of it will be fined. Foreigners will be deported.

Russian Protestants have campaigned against the proposals. Sergei Ryakhovsky, head of the Protestant Churches of Russia, wrote with other evangelical leaders to Putin urging him not to sign the legislation into law, saying that "Yarovaya's Law violates human rights and fundamental liberties with regard to religious ...