The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) had a presence in Russia before the rise of the USSR, with the first baptisms occurring in 1895. Preliminary missionary efforts began before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and the Russian government officially recognized the church in 1991. Membership increased in the 1990s and early 2000s. Missionary efforts were impacted by the 2016 Yarovaya law, which prohibited proselytizing outside of official church property. Current membership statistics are not available for Russia, but the church reported 19,946 members in 2009. As of February 2023, there were three stakes and three missions in Russia. In 2018, Russell M. Nelson announced that a temple would be constructed in a major city in Russia.
History
Early beginnings
In 1843, 13 years after the church was formed, Joseph Smith called two missionaries—George J. Adams and Orson Hyde—to preach in Russia. Smith stated that "some of the most important things concerning the ... building up of the kingdom of God in the last days" involved Russia. Adams and Hyde's mission, however, was canceled after the death of Joseph Smith. In the 1840s, the Russian press reported the Mormon pioneers' move west, and in the 1870s and 80s chronicled the struggle between the church and the U.S. government over the practice of plural marriage. In 1887, while serving in Jaffa, Palestine, Joseph M. Tanner reportedly baptized some Russians who then settled in Utah. The first Latter-day Saint baptisms in Russia occurred in 1895. August Höglund, a Swedish native, was sent to St. Petersburg in response to a request from the Lindelof family for missionaries to visit them. Johan and Alma Lindelof were soon baptized, and two of their children followed in 1905. This event encouraged Francis M. Lyman to travel to Russia in 1903 to dedicate it for missionary work. He gave dedicatory prayers in Moscow and at the Summer Palace in St. Petersburg. Church leaders visited the Lindelofs following their conversion. An LDS missionary was sent to Latvia, but increasing political tension thwarted further efforts to proselyte in the Russian Empire. After the October Revolution occurred, the Lindelof family was arrested and only two children were confirmed to have survived.
Soviet era
There is no evidence of additional converts to the church before 1989; however, John H. Noble claimed to have met a "handful of Mormons" while in the Soviet Union in the 1950s. He recorded that they were persecuted by the Communist government for their association with an American religion, but persisted in practicing their faith. The term "Mormon" was also used by Russians to describe unaffiliated polygamist groups.
In 1959, Ezra Taft Benson visited Moscow and spoke to a crowd in the Central Baptist Church. The Russian-language translation of the Book of Mormon was published on June 3, 1981. As the political climate began to change, the Russian people began learning of the church through travel to other countries and contact with members. The Terebenin family joined the church while visiting Budapest, Hungary, in 1989, and it was in their home on February 11, 1990, where the first Russian branch of the LDS Church was created. Soviet diplomat Yuri Dubinin traveled to Utah in April 1990; while visiting Brigham Young University, he affirmed that the church would be allowed inside the USSR. Russell M. Nelson dedicated the land for missionary work for the second time in 1990, in the same Summer Garden where Lyman gave the original prayer. The first mission in the Soviet Union was established in July 1990.
Religious Freedom, Growth and Expansion
The church was officially recognized by the Russian government in May 1991. The Russia Moscow and St. Petersburg missions were founded in February 1992 after legislation passed that allowed for greater religious freedom. At the time, church membership had reached 750. In the 1990s and early 2000s, membership grew and three stakes were established in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Saratov. In March 1998, a pair of missionaries were kidnapped while working in Saratov and held for a ransom of $300,000. The ransom was never paid, and the young men were released four days later.