Letter from the Chairman of the Council for Religious Cults under the USSR Council of Ministers A. A. Luzin to the Deputy Chairman of the KGB under the USSR Council of Ministers K. F. Lunev
No. 23-113s August 8, 1957
Secret
The Council for the Affairs of Religious Cults is encountering certain difficulties in determining its attitude toward a whole range of sectarian formations and groups that are not subject to registration and operate either on an overt basis or, more often, covertly from the authorities. Among such church‑sectarian formations and groups are, as is known, Jehovah’s Witnesses, the “Red Collars” (krasnovorottsy), the “Red Dragons” (krasnodrakonovtsy), Dukhobors, Khlysty, Pentecostals, and many others, including extreme mystical and fanatical sects.
In this connection, the Council for the Affairs of Religious Cults requests your instructions regarding periodic information from the Council based on your materials characterizing the state and activity of religious organizations in general, and especially the above‑mentioned fanatical and extremely mystical sects operating covertly or underground.
The Council for the Affairs of Religious Cults, for its part, considers it necessary to provide mutual information to the State Security Committee on the life and activity of religious cults in the Soviet Union, based on the materials at its disposal.
Chairman of the Council
for the Affairs of Religious Cults
under the Council of Ministers of the USSR
A.A. Puzin
State Archive of the Russian Federation. Fond R‑6991. Inv. 3. File 146. Sheet 153. Typewritten copy.
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