Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether she has made representations she to the Government of Russia on the prosecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses and other peaceful religious groups under extremism legislation in the last 12 months.

The Government champions freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) for all abroad and regularly condemns the Kremlin's dire domestic human rights record in international fora. Last month, the UK and its allies at the OSCE reiterated our call for the Russian authorities to release all political prisoners and repeal their extensive repressive legislation, and the UK's Human Rights Ambassador condemned the continuing deterioration in the Kremlin's domestic human rights record. The UK will continue to call on the Russian Government to uphold its international commitments on FoRB, and to end its persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses, and other religious minorities.