Russia

Russia is facing a crisis of addiction among its youth, but believers are working to help reverse this trend from the ground up.

Sergei started using hard drugs as a young teen, and his addiction swiftly ramped up to the point where he had to quit school. By the time he turned 22, he knew his addiction was already out of hand. He was certain that if he didn’t find help, he wouldn’t wake up one of these mornings. 

Our partners live in a nation well acquainted with hard work and unrelentingly tough circumstances, but they are also seeing God’s grace and provision in miraculous ways.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia has reported extraordinarily low mortality rates. A group of doctors, however, have been creating a “memory list” of colleagues’ names who have died from the virus, despite official figures saying otherwise.

In Russia and the former Soviet states, the word “liquidator” needs no explanation. These people are a mix of survivor, victim and hero.

When the Chernobyl reactor blew highly radioactive graphite and ash across the nearby towns and forest, the Soviet government called in liquidators to contain the disaster.

The many believers exiled to Siberia has helped to turn this region into a bastion of Christianity in Russia.

Under the boot of Communism, many Christians in the Soviet Union faced harsh oppression. Evangelicals worshipped in underground churches, taking communion out in the forest and being baptized at night. Bibles and Christian literature were confiscated and destroyed.

Those struggling with addiction in one of the largest countries on earth often feel they have nowhere to turn for help.

Russia is plagued by a quiet killer.

The country has one of the world’s fastest-growing drug trafficking and abuse problem, and the government has very little in the way of real treatment programs available.