Twelve American missionaries have been fined in Russia's southern republic of Karachayevo-Cherkessia for violating migration law by teaching English while in the country on tourist visas, Russian media reported Monday.
“The U.S. nationals came to Russia at the invitation of followers of an evangelical Christian missionary union in the town of Karachayevsk, on tourist visas,” Interfax cited the regional branch of the Federal Security Service (FSB) as saying.
“However, they did not limit themselves to tourist trips — at a children's camp organized by members of the religious organization in the town of Teberda, the foreigners gave English lessons,” the FSB was quoted as saying.
Each of the missionaries was fined 2,500 rubles ($38) for undertaking employment without a corresponding permit, Interfax reported.
Last April, four Americans were fined and deported from Russia for giving English lessons in the Volga River port of Cheboksary, having come to the city on tourist visas, the regional branch of the Federal Migration Service (FMS) said at the time.
In that incident, the FMS statement also accused the U.S. nationals of “propagandizing American values.”
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