Story number 3 for 5 Mar 2001

(Russia)–The Keston Institute is reporting that the Justice Ministry of the Russian Federation has granted the Salvation Army the status of a centralized religious organization, or CRO. The status encourages departments of justice to register local religious organizations, such as the Moscow branch, which has been threatened with liquidation. One mission agency believes some of the problems facing Christian groups may be because many of the government officials are still former Communists, who don’t want the church and religion to grow.