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A collage of a Bible, Valdimir Putin, and the Kremlin and an outline of Russia

Putin’s ‘Year of the Family’ Declaration Blends Russian Nationalism with the Far-Right Rhetoric of the Global Pro-Family Movement

By Irina Smolevskaya

…t blow in terms of absolute numbers: “The decline was largest among ethnic Russians, whose number, the census of 2021 said, fell by 5.4m in 2010-21. Their share of the population fell from 78% to 72%.” See “Russia’s Population Nightmare Is Going to Get Even Worse,” The Economist, April 10, 2023. In comparison, “Russia’s ethnic republics accounted for almost half of the 26 regions that grew between 2010 and 2021, despite comprising less than a quar…

Espionage Allegations Against Russian Church Raise Religious Freedom Issue in Ukraine

By Katherine Kelaidis

…e calling it a success, claiming to have found cash in various currencies, Russian propaganda, and “dubious” Russian citizens inside the monastery—you know, the stuff you’re likely to find in a center for espionage. The raid was the most recent and visible example of a growing concern that the Russian Orthodox Church is operating as more than an instrument of soft power for the Putin-regime, but might actually be involved in subordinating Russian…

With This Largely Overlooked Shakeup is the Russian Orthodox Church Looking to Westernize? Yes and No

By Katherine Kelaidis

…But, as has been said before, the Russian Orthodox Church is a tool of the Russian state, an instrument of Russian soft power. Understanding the inner workings of the Russian Church is crucial toward understanding what exactly the Russian Federation is up to. Today, one of the Russian Church’s most powerful men has been sent into exile and into the heart of the Christian far-right’s global alliance, and one of its young bishops has been called bac…

The Potentially Explosive Russian Church Intrigue Revealed by Mueller Investigation

By Katherine Kelaidis

…Church is now (once again) an active and potentially aggressive arm of the Russian state. The Russian state will act to protect its interests and the Church will act for the interests of the state. In fact, as can be seen in the Ukraine, these interests are often deeply intertwined. This, in itself, would not be a problem, or of any particular interest for those outside the Orthodox Church, if not for global non-Orthodox alliances into which the R…

Russian Operative Maria Butina, Who Leveraged Christian Right Connections, Sentenced For Conspiracy

By Becky Garrison

…failure to meet privately with the President, she was worried that another Russian national (i.e., not the Russian Official) would attempt to seize the initiative, as demonstrated in her Twitter conversation with the Russian Official: Butina: It would be good if you could talk directly with the MFA or the administration. Before [Russian national who attended the breakfast] worms his way in there. Russian Official: Everything will be fine. I alread…

Global LGBT Recap: Nigeria Jails Gays, Russian Orthodox Spox Calls for Criminalization Referendum

By Peter Montgomery

…at lived through decades of religion being illegal, but in fact many, many Russians identify as Russian Orthodox and have this vague idea of a Russian national identity that is tied to the Orthodox church.” In response to a question from Gross about why the anti-gay witch hunt was catching on now, Gessen responded: Well, for a couple of reasons. One is that it’s convenient. I mean it’s Putin’s effort to shore-up his constituency around is very vag…

Prominent Russian Orthodox Church Rejects Pro-Putin Patriarch Kirill, Raising Tensions Within Orthodox World

By Katherine Kelaidis

…ct between the Patriarchate of Moscow and the Patriarchate of Constantinople is deeply intertwined with geopolitics and now the global Culture Wars. As much as this is a conflict between Russia and the West, it’s also a conflict within Orthodoxy, in which not only the Russian Church but also the Russian state has a stake in keeping people and parishes on its side. As a consequence, it’s a conflict that can no longer be ignored by those outside the…

‘Russkii Mir,’ the Russian Equivalent of ‘Blood & Soil’ Ideology at the Heart of Putin’s War, Explained and Rejected by Theologians in New Statement

By Daniel Schultz

…n version of the Nazis’ “blood and soil” ideology. As the authors explain, Russian World teaches that “there is a transnational Russian sphere or civilization, called Holy Russia or Holy Rus’, which includes Russia, Ukraine and Belarus (and sometimes Moldova and Kazakhstan).” This Russian world, according to the ideology, has Moscow as its administrative center and Kyiv as its spiritual heart: both Ukrainian and Russian Orthodox leaders refer to t…

What’s So Scary About the Inclusion of ‘God’ in the Russian Constitution?

By Katherine Kelaidis

…t be going too far to say that the arch-conservative positions of Kirill’s Russian Orthodox Church operate as an instrument of Russian soft-power, drafting reactionary forces around the world onto the Russian side. It is, for instance, difficult not to see the Patriarch’s ongoing ecclesiastical conflict with the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople, focused on hotspots such as Ukraine and Western Europe, through the lens of Russia’s increasi…

In Russia It Is Now a Crime to Insult Someone’s Religious Feelings

By Chrissy Stroop

…to Shamil Kashaf’s recent presentation at the conference “The Varieties of Russian Modernity,” hosted by my employer, the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), Russian Muslims already feel marginalized in public discourse relative to the ROC. In addition, like US Muslims, Russian Muslims frequently encounter resistance to efforts to construct new mosques. There is also the concern that the Russian leg…