[Editors note - Many reports on Russia here, reported as a digest to avoid flooding inboxes] Agence France Presse HEADLINE: Moscow police raid Scientologists Moscow police raided the head offices of Russia's Scientologist movement Thursday as part of an investigation into the group's financial activities here. Footage shown by NTV television showed armed police storming into the Scientologists building and checking documents of its US directors. The police also dispersed a school class attended by several dozen children. Scientology, founded by the science-fiction writer Ron Hubbard and based in Los Angeles, is recognized as a religion in the United States. It is not subject to restrictions under Russian law but is nonetheless condemned by the Russian Orthodox church. The government last February gave all foreign religious organizations six months to register in accordance with a 1997 law that banned sects with less than 15 years' existence in Russia from actively seeking converts. Scientology is considered a sect in some western countries, including Germany and Greece, where authorities contend that its leaders seek economic gain. AP Worldstream HEADLINE: Russian police raid Moscow center for Scientology BYLINE: GREG MYRE Russia-Religion DATELINE: MOSCOW Police seized boxes of documents from the Scientology movement and were questioning the group's leaders Friday, the latest in a series of government actions against religious groups in Russia. Tax police and other security services spent 16 hours confiscating materials at the group's Moscow center on Thursday and returned Friday morning to question the Scientologists, a controversial international spiritual organization, the group said. The tax police said they were investigating possible tax evasion and other financial irregularities, but the Scientologists said the move was politically motivated. ''Cruelty was in the air during this visit (by the tax police), which has reminded us that Russia has not yet acquired the right of freedom freedom to think and act in accordance with the convictions of conscience,'' Alexei Danchenkov, a spokesman for the group, said in a statement. The Scientology center in Moscow is formally called the Humanitarian Hubbard Center, named after the founder of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard. It holds regular classes for both youths and adults, attracting about 200 students each week, according to Danchenkov. Russian authorities have moved against a number of religious organizations following the passage of a 1997 law that placed widespread restrictions on ''non-traditional'' faiths. The Russian Orthodox Church, the dominant religion, strongly supports the measure and often speaks out against religious groups that have been arriving in Russia since the Soviet breakup in 1991. But human rights groups say the law is reminiscent of the anti-religion drives during the Soviet era, when the Communists decreed an official policy of atheism and many religious groups had to operate underground. The current cases include: In St. Petersburg, more than 40 teachers and children at a Christian school have been holed up inside their building since Tuesday, under the eye of police in combat fatigues outside. The city gave the Society of Open Christianity a rent-free lease on the aging building in 1991, but are now demanding it back. The group wants a new site for their school. Moscow prosecutors are seeking to ban the Jehovah's Witnesses in an ongoing trial. Prosecutors have accused the group of ''aggressive proselytism'' and describe it is a cult that destroys families, fosters hatred and threatens lives. In the eastern city of Magadan, authorities have sought for months to close the Word of Life Pentecostalist Church. A prosecutor has accused church leaders of hypnotizing people, while tax police and the security services have conducted raids and interrogations. Earlier this month, 400 church members applied for asylum in the United States. Agence France Presse HEADLINE: Scientologists protest Moscow police raid DATELINE: WASHINGTON, Feb 26 The head of the Church of Scientology strongly protested a Russian police raid on two of the movement's offices in Moscow Thursday and suggested that Germany may have had a hand in the action. The raids were "unprovoked ... unconstitutional harassment of members of a peaceful religion, for practicing their faith," Reverend Heber Jentzsch said in his letter to Ambassador Yuri Ushakov. Moscow police Thursday raided the head offices of Russia's Scientologist movement as part of an investigation into the group's financial activities in Russia. Footage shown by Russian television showed armed police storming into the Scientologists building and checking documents of its US directors. The police also dispersed a school class attended by several dozen children. Jentzsch said the presence of armed police was unnecessary as "there was no cause whatsoever to expect harm from Church members," adding that aside from a "fabricated claim from a 'former member,'" the reason for the raid and investigation "remains a mystery." The Scientologist suggests, however, that Germany may have influenced Russia to take such measures against the church. "There is strong cause for suspicion that today's raids came about due to German influence," Jentzsch told the Russian ambassador. The reverend also mentions Russian media report suggesting that the raids may be Russia's response to the US government's decision to "close Russian foundations on American soil which have been aiding Iran." If the Church of Scientology is "simply caught in the middle of a political tit-for-tat, the situation is even more intolerable," Jentzsch said in his letter. The Los Angeles-based church leader offered to travel to Washington to "prevent further harassment of a peaceful religion." Scientology, founded by the science-fiction writer Ron Hubbard and based in Los Angeles, is recognized as a religion in the United States. It is not subject to restrictions under Russian law but is nonetheless condemned by the Russian Orthodox church. The Russian government last February gave all foreign religious organizations six months to register in accordance with a 1997 law that banned sects with less than 15 years' existence in Russia from actively seeking converts. Scientology is considered a sect in some western countries, including Germany and Greece, where authorities contend that its leaders seek economic gain. The Moscow Times February 26, 1999 No. 1652 Police Seize Records at Center for Scientology By Natalya Shulyakovskaya, Staff Writer The police officers armed with short automatic rifles and two vans stamped with "Prosecutor's Office" and "Tax Police" on their sides outside a Scientology center in northeast Moscow showed that something was wrong Thursday behind the center's glass doors. In a daylong search of the Moscow Humanitarian Hubbard Center, prosecutors, tax police, investigators from the Federal Security Service, or FSB, and regular policemen seized boxes full of paperwork and rummaged through personal files. Police and prosecutors said they were investigating possible tax evasion and other financial improprieties by the Scientologists, a controversial international spiritual organization. Alexei Danchenkov, the spokesman for the center, said police have been investigating the organization for more than six months. But the Scientologists, he said, believe the investigation is politically motivated. "I think this is a plot by the highest levels of the FSB against our presence in Russia," Danchenkov said. "I think the Russian Orthodox Church has simply made a deal with the FSB to establish its own dominance here." Russia has adopted a controversial law limiting the activities of "nontraditional" faiths, which has been used to crack down on religious groups. Moscow prosecutors are currently seeking to ban the Jehovah's Witnesses in a court case that is being closely monitored by human rights activists. The Scientologists are registered not as a religious group but as a nonprofit organization. Even so, the Scientologists see themselves as a religion, and the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church has listed Scientology as a destructive cult. The warrant for Thursday's search was signed by the deputy prosecutor of the city's northeastern district, Pyotr Stolypin, a member of the prosecutor's team said. Police arrived at about 8 a.m. at the center at 19A Ulitsa Borisa Galushkina, a former kindergarten that the Scientologists rent from the Saturn rocket-engine factory. Throughout the day, as the search continued, teenagers attended Scientology classes and music blasted from gym, which was packed with people mingling and eating. Spiritual leaders, teachers and workers struggled to maintain smiles, students clapped vigorously at the end of classes, and workers in green uniforms continued wiping floors. But in the center's offices, men in fatigues were going through the files and seizing records. "We have prosecutors, FSB, tax police - they brought along every agency. The only ones they managed to forget are the firemen," said Alexander Shilov, one of the center's workers. As he was talking, another member of the group hissed at him and whisked him away. "They are packing away everything, every single piece of paper they could lay their hands on," said Danchenkov, the center spokesman, visibly pale and shaking. "I am sorry, I have to go now, my office is being searched at the moment." As he walked back to his office, law enforcement officers dragged three large cardboard boxes into it. Danchenkov said the center had been raided before. "They took away files and files of documents. I don't think they have even opened them," he said. A local policeman who stood at the door to the center wrote down the names, addresses and passport numbers of all members as they left the office. Late into the evening, police and investigators were still at the center, going through the files and questioning the Scientology leaders one by one. The Church of Scientology was founded by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard and is headquartered in Los Angeles. Hubbard's books, most prominently the basic Scientological text Dianetics, is published in more than 30 languages and distributed in over 100 countries, where the group claims to have 8 million adherents. Scientology - a tightly organized group - calls itself a religion and is registered as such in the United States and Australia. European countries have largely refused to grant Scientology a tax-free religious status and the group has faced a number of high profile trials, particularly in Germany and France. Some of its more famous members include Hollywood stars like Demi Moore, John Travolta and Tom Cruise. Since the end of Soviet religious persecution, Scientology has made impressive inroads into Russia. The presentation party for the Russian edition of Dianetics took place in the Kremlin, and Moscow State University for several years had an L. Ron Hubbard Reading Room, which was closed last year. The Humanitarian Hubbard Center was opened in Moscow in 1993 and was the second such center in Russia. The first one was opened in St. Petersburg. The center holds classes on Scientological teaching, charging from 250 to 500 rubles ($ 11 to $ 22 at Friday's official rate) a month for the spiritual self -improvement classes. As many as 200 students attend its weekly classes, Danchenkov said. The center sells a large quantity of books written by Hubbard and collects memberships dues from its members. Scientologists' center in St. Petersburg also went through a round of legal troubles, Danchenkov said, adding that it recently had to pay a fine of about 10,000 rubles for tax violations. Top-level executives in some Russian regions have gone through Scientology's Hubbard Colleges, which provide management training according to the group's methodology. When former Prime Minister Sergei Kiriyenko was a private banker in Nizhny Novgorod, he put all of his management through the program. As the search was under way at the Moscow center, Vladimir Turov, the deputy head of the city's Balashikha district administration who has been a student of Scientology since 1995, stood in the hallway denouncing the seizures of personal files. "No one can take away a member's and student's personal files! They have no right to do this." he said in a grave but even voice. Turov said his wife, sister and nieces and nephews have all attended Scientology classes. "There simply could be no serious reasons for this investigation. Besides, the issue here is not whether we are good or bad, but about legal questions," he said. "We have got to stop bacchanalia, otherwise next will come purges for saying a wrong word, thinking a wrong thought or reading a wrong book." The Boston Globe February 26, 1999, Friday ,City Edition NATIONAL/FOREIGN; Pg. A15 Scientologists raided in Moscow (AP) MOSCOW - Followers of the Los Angeles-based Church of Scientology said their offices in Moscow were raided yesterday by dozens of armed security personnel. Russian law enforcement agencies declined to comment on the reports, but Interfax news agency said units of police, the State Security Service, and tax inspectors had descended on four Scientology offices in Moscow. Russia has adopted a law limiting the activities of "nontraditional" faiths, although it was not immediately clear whether the raids yesterday were connected with that law. United Press International February 26, 1999, Friday, BC cycle -13:18 Eastern Time International Russian taxmen raid Scientologists MOSCOW, Feb. 26 -- Russian tax officials and police raided the Moscow office of the Scientologist movement, thoroughly searching the premises and confiscating documents. The raid, the second in two days, was accompanied by loud protests from Scientologists, who sang songs as camera crews gathered to record the crackdown. On Thursday, tax officials began a day-long operation at the offices of the so-called Hubbard Humanitarian Center, named after L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, claiming that the organization was conducting unregistered commercial activities. The movement is not registered as a religious organization, and has come under pressure after a decision by the Russian Orthodox Church to push for a restrictive law on religion. The Russian legislation, which was passed by parliament in 1997 and has been condemned by the Vatican and several Christian denominations in the United States, calls for mandatory registration of all religious groups and organizations, with clauses restricting registration to those organizations present in Russia for 15 years, effectively limiting the activities to ''main religions.'' The list of these so-called ''main'' religions includes Russian Orthodoxy, Buddhism, Judaism and Islam, and has been expanded to include Catholics and Protestant after intense pressure from Pope John Paul II and U.S. congressmen. On previous occasions, the Russian media has reported complaints by Baptists, Mormons, Seventh-Day Adventists and Jehovah's Witnesses of problems they had encountered in registering under the new legislation. Officials at the Justice Ministry say the law was passed to prevent the spread of dangerous sects in Russia, including Ukraine's ''White Brotherhood'' doomsday cult, and Aum Shinri Kyo, whose followers planted canisters of toxic gas in Japan's subway stations on instructions from their spiritual leader. The Russian Orthodox Church has been very active in efforts to limit the expansion of other religious movements into Russia, calling for a ban on proselytizing to limit the number of converts. A group of Jehovah's Witnesses is currently facing trial in Moscow on charges of active proselytism.