Sources stated the Russian Orthodox Church tacitly supported the autocephalic ambitions of breakaway churches without seeking formal recognition of their autocephaly from the Georgian Orthodox Church, reads the US Department of State 2021 Report on International Religious Freedom.

“Religious leaders again stated de facto authorities in the Russia-occupied Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which remained outside the administrative control of the central government, restricted some religious groups. Both regions continued to ban Jehovah’s Witnesses, although the think tank Democracy Research Institute (DRI) reported Jehovah’s Witnesses and Pentecostals could assemble freely in Akhalgori, South Ossetia.

The GOC and Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) recognized Orthodox churches in both regions as belonging to the GOC, but GOC officials said de facto authorities in South Ossetia pressured Orthodox churches to merge with the ROC, while some religious figures in Abkhazia continued to support turning the region’s Orthodox churches into an autocephalous Abkhaz Orthodox Church. Sources stated the ROC tacitly supported the autocephalic ambitions of breakaway churches without seeking formal recognition of their autocephaly from the GOC. De facto authorities in South Ossetia declared GOC religious services illegal but permitted them in practice; in Abkhazia, de facto authorities prohibited GOC clergy from entering the region”, - reads the report.