Since Russia invaded Ukraine, the Russian Orthodox Church has fully supported Putin’s imperial ambitions.

As a result, Ukraine took a bold, yet necessary, step of banning churches linked to Moscow to safeguard national sovereignty amidst the war with Russia – a move that is being celebrated across Ukraine.

This decision has provoked controversy among conservatives in the West who have been quick to accuse Kyiv of attacking religious freedom.

To be clear: such claims are baseless, as Ukraine is not banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church; nor are officials trying to ban religion overall. Rather, the law aims to protect orthodox believers in Ukraine from Russian propaganda. The Russian Orthodox Church has long been a crucial weapon for the Kremlin, disseminating propaganda to further its military and intelligence objectives under the guise of religion.

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Some conservatives are probably puzzled how Putin, with his communist upbringing would support religion. For Putin, the Church is a tool for domestic and international manipulation. This has been a long tactic by Russia’s intelligence. The Kremlin has utilised the Russian Orthodox Church to frame its invasion of Ukraine as a “holy war,” acting as the defender of Orthodox Christianity against an immoral West. Patriarch Kirill has publicly stated that the West is “immersed in Satanism” and that it threatens not only Russia but also the Christian world as a whole.

Russia’s Patriarch Kirill, who reportedly spied for the KGB in Switzerland according to Swiss newspapers not only supported Putin’s aggression in Ukraine but also blessed nuclear weapons. He also stated that sacrifice in military service “washes away all the sins that a person has committed.” His predecessor, Patriarch Alexey II was allegedly also a KGB agent who blessed the opening of a departmental church of the FSB.

The Russian Orthodox Church not only legitimises the Kremlin’s self-appointed role as the defender of Russian Orthodox civilisation, but it also plays an active part in advancing Moscow’s influence abroad. Putin has used religious propaganda to legitimise his imperialistic war within the so-called “Russian world.” After illegally annexing Crimea in 2014, a triumphant Putin stressed the peninsula’s “invaluable civilisational and even sacral importance”.

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The Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s Moscow Patriarchate, or UOC-MP – the Russian Orthodox Church’s subordinate branch in Ukraine – supported Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the invasion of Eastern Ukraine in 2014. Just before the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Putin argued Russia had to prevent the “destruction” of the pro-Russia faction of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. In London in March 2023, the head of the Diocese of Great Britain and Western Europe, Bishop Irenei, issued an “Open Letter on the Persecution of Christians in Ukraine.”

The European Parliament has highlighted how “Russia builds links within” Orthodox countries through church activities coordinated with the Russian government. In the West, Russia has created alliances with sympathetic religious institutions working such as the World Congress of Families, which brings together various European Christian organisations and U.S. Evangelical groups. The church’s efforts have caught the attention of the U.S. government, causing the FBI to privately warn members of the Orthodox community in the U.S. that Russia was likely using the church to help recruit intelligence sources in the West. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom states that Russia is “one of the worst violators of their people’s religious freedom, as well as among the most active perpetrators of cross-border repression and other malign activities abroad, including in the United States.”

Unfortunately, Russia’s weaponisation of religion has yielded support from some Western conservatives.

U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has applauded Russia for protecting Christianity, claiming that Ukraine is “executing” priests, and Tucker Carlson also mirrored this statement. JD Vance also stated that that “priests [are] being investigated, church assets being seized and priests being arrested.” National Security Advisor under former President Trump, Mike Flynn, tweeted a video of President Putin speaking to a crowd, with the caption: “Fascinating to hear the Russian president discuss the family and God as strong values the West is destroying.” Meanwhile, according to Peter Pomerantsev, Russia has been targeting Evangelicals and persecuted Protestants in occupied Ukraine.

While Putin is portraying Russia as a pillar of traditional, moral and spiritual values, Russians are not overly religious, however a 2022 survey found that over 65% of Russians, without reference to one’s faith, trust the Russian Orthodox Church, proving to be a powerful tool in the government’s propaganda. Additionally, only 9 percent of Russians go to church somewhat regularly.

Conservatives should not be fooled: Putin’s weaponisation of the Orthodox Church is part of his geopolitical strategy that aims only to deflect attention from his imperialist ambitions.

Dr Ivana Stradner is a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington DC

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