Deportation for Prayer: Russia Targets American Pastor for Supporting Trump

A city court in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Russia, has ordered the deportation of American pastor Paul Gione after finding him guilty of violating the country’s restrictive laws on missionary work, as reported by Radio Svoboda. The incident, which took place in May, centered on a church meeting where Gione invited congregants to pray for U.S. President Donald Trump. Russian authorities utilized a covertly recorded audio file as primary evidence, supported by a state-hired linguist who claimed the pastor was ‘manipulating his audience.’ Despite Gione’s defense—noting that he was in Russia as a tourist and has spent over three decades performing charitable work, including supporting local orphanages and raising five adopted Russian children—the court remained steadfast in its decision. Beyond the deportation, Gione was fined 30,000 rubles and currently remains in a detention center for migrants. The Kremlin’s zero-tolerance policy toward any independent religious expression reflects a broader pattern of paranoia and state control. In a country where the church is increasingly subsumed under the state’s political apparatus, praying for a foreign political leader, even one as controversial as Trump, is treated as a subversive act. The pastor is required to leave Russia by August 27. This case highlights the rapidly shrinking space for international cooperation and personal freedom within Russia, serving as another example of how the regime systematically targets foreign individuals under the guise of national security and the ‘protection of morality.’ Such actions demonstrate that for the Russian authorities, any independent community—whether religious or civic—poses a threat that must be neutralized.