The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints released a statement adding more information about missionaries who were recently detained in Russia, where LDS missionaries are referred to and function as volunteers.
"Approximately two weeks ago, six volunteers from the Russia Samara Mission were detained by local authorities for a brief period, seeking information about the status of their visas. They were released a few hours later. Three of the volunteers have been reassigned to another Russian-speaking mission outside of the country because of technicalities related to their visas," church spokesman Eric Hawkins said on Friday.
Rep. Chris Stewart, R-Utah mentioned the six Thursday when he also expressed concerns that Russian computer hackers could disrupt the U.S. presidential election.
In July, after new laws were put in place in Russia restricting missionary work, the LDS Church said missionaries-turned-volunteers would stay in Russia.
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