Thousands of residents protest new church building in southern Russian city

Approximately 1,000 residents of the southern Russian city of Krasnodar came out to record an appeal to Vladimir Putin in a rare mass protest against the building of a new church, local lawmaker Alexander Safronov wrote on his Telegram channel on Sunday.

Safronov, a member of Russia’s Communist Party, said the residents had demanded the territory allocated to build the church be restored as a public green space, saying in their video appeal: “We are not against faith, we are for the law.”

Since September 2024, Krasnodar residents have come out against the construction of the 70-metre-high church on the Rozhdestvenskaya Embankment in the west of the city. Local authorities said the church would be dedicated to veterans of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Residents have argued that there are already enough churches in the area, and are currently collecting signatures calling for the resignation of Mayor Yevgeny Naumov, independent news outlet 7x7 reported.

Public willingness to protest in Russia has fallen sharply in recent years, according to a November poll by Russia’s independent Levada Centre, which found that only 11% of Russians said they would attend political protests, down from 22% in May 2019.

Despite this, civic activism continues on local issues such as construction and environmental concerns. Novaya Gazeta Europe has estimated that at least 38,000 protests were held in Russia from 2022 to March 2025.