MOSCOW -- An Italian Catholic priest working near Moscow was banned from Russia in early April as part of a Russian crackdown against non-Orthodox believers and missionaries, ASSIST News Service reports.

Stefano Caprio, who oversees two parishes in towns near the Russian capital, was stopped at Moscow's Sheremetyevo-2 airport by Russian Foreign Ministry officials, who also confiscated his visa.

Caprio, an Italian citizen, has served as priest of Catholic parishes in Vladimir and Ivanovo since 1990. He also taught at the St. Thomas Aquinas College of Catholic Theology in Moscow and the Russian State Humanities University.

Caprio believes he might be on a black list after the Russian newspaper Versiya alleged he headed a network of Vatican spies operating in Russia.

"These accusations were inspired by my years as a student in the Russicum," Caprio told the Keston News Service (KNS), which monitors religious persecution. The Russicum is a Catholic college founded in Rome in 1927 to train priests to promote a new evangelization. The Russian Orthodox hierarchy often is suspicious of Russicum's graduates, KNS reports.

In March, a Pentecostal pastor from Latvia was refused entry to Russia, where officials have also accused The Salvation Army of intervention in the country's affairs. The Russian Foreign Ministry defends Russia's decision to refuse some Christians visas.