Development of Protestantism in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic in 1990s - 2020s

This article examines the process of the development of Protestant communities in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic in the post-Soviet period. The starting point of the study was 1990, when the laws of the USSR and the RSFSR were adopted, regulating the sphere of state-confessional relations on a new, liberal basis. The article shows in detail the dynamics of the membership of Protestant communities on the territory of the republic, the peculiarities of the emergence of new communities, forms and methods of work of Protestants. The sources of the study were the office documentation of the Karachay-Cherkess Regional Committee of the CPSU, the Commissioner of the Head of the KChR for Relations with Religious Organizations, the Ministry of the KChR for Ethnic Affairs, Mass Communications and the Press - reports, analytical notes on the religious situation, information about registered non-profit organizations posted on the Ministry's portal justice of the Russian Federation, reference materials on the doctrine and existing local religious associations, posted on the official websites of centralized religious organizations - the Russian Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists (RS ECB), the Russian United Union of Christians of the Evangelical Faith-Pentecostals (RUS KhVE), the Evangelical Christian Missionary Union (EXMC) and also field materials of the author - interviews with leaders of local Protestant communities.