The United States called for the countries of Europe and Eurasia to uphold their commitments to ensuring freedom of religion after hearing concerns about events in Russia and several former Soviet states.
The State Department said it had received reports of "troubling repression" of certain faiths in Russia, Belarus, Georgia, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan at a conference on religious freedom in Europe and Eurasia it co-hosted this week.
"The Department of State in Washington, and overseas, urges governments to ease restrictions and live up to their commitments," it said in a statement describing Tuesday's conference.
Every year, the department publishes a report on the state of religious freedom throughout the world and the next report is due out later this month.
Based on the findings in that report, the secretary of state designates the worst offending nations as "countries of particular concern" which can lead to the imposition of US sanctions.
In March, Secretary of State Colin Powell designated six nations -- China, Iran, Iraq. Myanmar, North Korea and Sudan -- as "countries of particular concern."
Although no countries from Europe or Eurasia are now so designated, the department said participants in the conference had noted problems in several countries in the region.
They "discussed troubling repression in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Belarus," the department said. "Also discussed was ongoing unpunished violence against some religious groups in Georgia."
In addition, several speakers asked that (the department) continue to press Russia to live up to its commitments on religious freedom, especially since Russia continues to set the tone for respect for human rights and development of democracy and civil society in much of the rest of Eurasia," it said.
The statement offered no details about the concerns but last year's report faulted Russia for "not always respect(ing) the provision for equality of religions" in its constitution and imposing restrictions on some minority faiths.
Similar complaints were raised about Belarus, Georgia, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, according to the report.
Although the conference participants reserved most of their concerns for those countries, they also raised questions about restrictive registration laws, employment filters and cult lists passed or compiled by authorities throughout western and central Europe.
These "deprive some groups of full freedom of religious expression," the department said.