A Dagestani government minister banned prayer at the office. Her staff says that's unconstitutional

How far are state officials prepared to go in their sweeping crackdown on the Dagestani government? Ekaterina Tolstikova, the new head of the republic’s Land and Property Relations Ministry, is apparently willing to go pretty far.

According to a report by the local publication Novoe Delo, Tolstikova banned her staff from praying at work, refusing to let employees leave the office early for Friday prayer and shuttering the ministry’s prayer room. Her workers have reportedly appealed to Vladimir Vasiliev, the acting head of Dagestan, arguing that Tolstikova’s policy violates their constitutional right to religious freedom. The staff also claims that the ministry’s work has come to a standstill since prayer was banned in the office. “Even the mail has stopped,” says the letter to Vasiliev.

From 2014 to 2016, Ekaterina Tolstikova served as Russia’s deputy minister of science and education. She joined the Dagestani government in November 2016 as a deputy prime minister charged with overseeing education. In January 2018, she was put in charge of the Land and Property Relations Ministry, while remaining a deputy prime minister.

Beginning in January, a multi-agency federal commission led from Moscow has carried out numerous raids and arrests, charging several high-profile Dagestani government officials with the large-scale embezzlement of public funds. The special commission’s stated mission is to “verify the state of the law” in Dagestan.