Thanks; I did find that eventually, along with several other articles, once I started looking for “anti-terrorism” instead of anything to do with evangelization.
Apparently, prior to the ChristianityToday article, most of the articles discussing the law seemed to suggest that it was most controversial because it required telecomms to store recordings of conversations in case they were later subpoenaed.
Several earlier sources, quite possibly sympathetic to Putin PR, mention, however that it prohibits attacking other people’s religion.
THIS sounds like Putin, and like something that might be inserted into an anti-terrorism bill! This would silence people seeking to radicalize Muslims, but would also alarm Protestants; Russia has in the past restricted Protestants by claiming that they proselytize by denouncing Orthodox Christians as being non-Christians.
But for now, for me, that’s only conjecture.
It bans "missionary activity" outside of schools, houses of worships, cemeteries, and special establishments for accomodating group activities...
...EXCEPT for ANY religious organization which has been licenses as an official religious organization. That means Catholics, Orthodox, Old Believers, and many Protestant, pagan, and Muslim groups ARE ALLOWED UNRESTRICTED missionary activity.
Other religious groups, including foreign, proselytizing Protestant groups and foreign-funded Islamicist groups are prohibited from missionary activity.
And "missionary activity" is defined as any public worship, distribution of literature (bibles, Korans, etc.), ceremonies, preaching, etc.
How does this harm licensed religious groups?
Even Catholic and Orthodox street preachers would be required to have some form of record on them or readily available that demonstrates that they represent licensed religious groups. That might make life difficult for someone like Michael Voris on the right or Nuns on the Bus on the left.
Why did Putin do this?
My guess is that it's too difficult to convince a jury or national public opinion that a specific act of inciting religious hatred constitutes a violation of existing law. This way, a bureaucracy can ban religious hatred by denying official status beforehand. Then, there's no subjective tolerance afforded to juries: the target either had a license or they didn't.
Lawmakers are also eager to place new restrictions on Russia's religious sphere, amending the legal definition of “missionary activity” as defined under the Constitution's article on the freedom of conscience and religion. Yarovaya's legislation defines as “missionary activity” any kind of religious practice that takes place outside special establishments, cemeteries, houses of worship, or religious schools. This applies to acts of worship, ceremonies, the distribution of literature, and preaching. “The dissemination of beliefs and religious convictions” through the mass media and the Internet is also considered to be “missionary activity.”
If the legislation is passed, missionary activity would be off limits to anyone but the representatives of registered organizations and groups, and individuals who have entered into formal agreements with such bodies. When preaching, every missionary must carry documents with specific information proving their connection to a registered religious group. Lawmakers want to ban any kind of missionary activity in residential areas, except prayer services, ceremonies, and sacramental rites. Foreign missionaries will only be able to operate in the regions where their inviting organizations are registered.
The authorities want to ban the dissemination of certain religious concepts, too, such as ideas believed to promote extremism, discourage receiving medical care, encourage surrendering property to religious organizations, and so on. Violating these prohibitions would risk steep administration fines as high as a million rubles (more than $15,000).
The human rights center “Sova” says the amendments to Russian laws about missionary work threaten not only unregistered religious groups, but also the organizations that are already registered (namely, churches belonging to Protestants and newer Christian sects). Even some Russian Orthodox missionaries could encounter problems, Sova warns.
Source: https://meduza.io/en/feature/2016/06/22/irina-yarovaya-s-anti-terrorist-war-on-civil-rights