Sinichenko Vladimir Viktorovich , Zudaeva Veronika Vyacheslavovna

The article analyzes the legal and administrative restrictions imposed by the Russian authorities in the 19th and early 20th centuries on the missionary activities of two religious groups penetrating from the territory of Qing China into the eastern outskirts of Russia: Buddhist lamas (Lamaists) and Catholic missionaries. The research is based on archival materials, legislative acts, and decrees of the local administration. The author argues that the imperial policy towards both confessions, despite differences in their status (Buddhism was officially recognized as an "indigenous" religion, while Catholicism was considered entirely foreign), was repressive and restrictive. Its key goals were to prevent the geographical and demographic spread of these doctrines beyond historical ethnic areas, to establish strict administrative control over their structures, to isolate them from external centers of influence (Tibet, Mongolia, Rome), and to protect the monopoly of the Orthodox mission. Restrictive measures (laws of 1822, 1853, secret decrees, circulars) against Buddhists included quotas for clergy and temples, a ban on proselytism, and control over education. Catholic missionaries were viewed primarily as political spies, and their activities were severely suppressed by deportation and enhanced border control. Only the Edict of Religious Tolerance of 1905 somewhat relaxed the regime but did not abolish it completely

Russian Empire, religious policy, missionary activity, Buddhism, Lamaism, Catholicism, Qing Empire, Eastern Siberia, legal restrictions, religious tolerance

Sinichenko Vladimir Viktorovich – Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor, Advisor to the Rector of Baikal State University (11, Lenin st., Irkutsk, 664003, Russian Federation), ORCID: 0000-0001-9384-2175, Researcher ID: AAZ-1100-2020, RSCI Author ID: 436021, e-mail: v.v.sinichenko@bk.ru

Zudaeva Veronika Vyacheslavovna – Senior Lecturer, East Siberian Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia (110, Lermontov st., Irkutsk, 664074, Russian Federation), ORCID: 0000-0002-3505-1778, Researcher ID: PEX-2964-2025, RSCI Author ID: 836627, e-mail: veronika22007@mail.ru

Sinichenko V.V., Zudaeva V.V. Pravovye ogranicheniya missionerskoy deyatel'nosti buddistov i katolikov iz Tsin'skoy imperii na vostochnykh okrainakh Rossii v XIX – nachale XX veka [Legal Restrictions on the Missionary Activities of Buddhists and Catholics from the Qing Empire in the Eastern Outskirts of Russia in the 19th and Early 20th Centuries] Sibirskij yuridicheskij vestnik [Siberian Law Herald]. 2026, no 2 (113), pp. 17–23. – DOI 10.26516/2071-8136.2026.2.17 (in Russian).

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