A June 18 conference at Ryazan State University prompted two articles in the local press demonizing minority Christians in what appears to be a coordinated campaign. A June 25, 2008 article in the local youth paper "Molodyozhnaya Sreda" reported that local security officials, professors at the university's department of theology, and the head of the local Russian Orthodox diocese's missionary department participated in a conference entitled "The Destructive Activity of Religious Organizations on the Territory of Ryazan Oblast" during which Baptists, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, and Pentecostals were labeled dangerous "sects." The article began with the author wistfully stating that: "If in earlier times heretics were mercilessly destroyed, nowadays in conformity with the 'Declaration of Human Rights' everyone has the right to choose his own religion." She defines sects as a religious group that is not the ruling faith of a country, and adds that, "people who become followers of sectarian teachings lose their identity" through brainwashing, isolation, and starvation of their adepts (including children) into submission. She accuses Baptists of refusing blood transfusions, confusing them with Jehovah's Witnesses, then compares "sects" to skinheads and other destructive elements of society. The article ends with the address and phone number of the local Russian Orthodox diocese, where readers can report the activity of "sects."

That same day, the local supplement to the most widely read newspaper in Russia--"Komsomolskaya Pravda"--ran an article that contained extensive quotes from the head of the local Orthodox Church diocese's missionary department, Father Areseny. The article began with a dire warning--even religious groups that at first glance appear harmless, "can enslave the personality of even a stable person." Father Arseny accused "sects" of operating in secret and fooling youths with what appear at first to be harmless activities like anti-narcotics therapy. He named a few Pentecostal, Baptist, Mormon, Hare Krishna and Jehovah's Witnesses congregations in Ryazan, some as small as five people, as threats to the public, and gave specific information about their locations (neo-Nazi and some pro-government youths groups have attacked minority Christians and their churches in recent years). He then expressed alarm at the fact that Baptists have worked at a local orphanage for 12 years, and stated that: "The children that grow up there already don't see themselves as part of Russia. They are ready to go the States."

The article ends with the following warning: "It's worth noting that sects present a serious threat, influence people's psyches, suppress their personalities, and take away their money. Falling into a sect means losing yourself, your loved ones, your relatives, and your friends."

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