Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has announced that his government will impose limitations on religious organizations with ties to Russia in an effort to bolster national security.
“The National Security and Defense Council has instructed the government to propose to [parliament] a bill on the outlawing of activities in Ukraine by religious organizations affiliated with centers of influence in Russia,” Zelenskyy said, according to AFP.
“National security officials should intensify measures to identify and counter the subversive activities of Russian special services in the religious space in Ukraine.”
Ukraine has followed Moscow’s spiritual leadership for centuries, but the Russian Orthodox Church’s role in the war forced many to take a more critical look at the institution.
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Patriarch Kirill, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, has remained a supporter and ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin during the invasion of Ukraine.
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office on Saturday, June 18, 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attends a meeting with military officers during his visit to the war-torn Mykolaiv region.
(Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)
Kirill has made statements to help maintain morale and support for the war, such as assuring Russian soldiers that they will be absolved of their sins if they die in the line of duty and that God ordained Putin’s government.
“We need to be very strong,” Kirill said in April as he blessed the troops before their service in Ukraine. “When I say ‘we’, I mean the military first and foremost.”
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The patriarch’s actions have led some to even call him “a little copy of Putin” who “lives life the way oligarchs live.”
Rebekah Koffler, president of Doctrine & Strategy Consulting and a former Defense Intelligence Agency official, said Zelenskyy’s decision to restrict the church is not surprising, as it steps outside of the Russian playbook for information control. KGB agents heavily infiltrated the church during the Soviet Union to use religion as a “weapon against political opposition.”
Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Kirill leads the Easter service at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow on Saturday, April 23.
(Sergei Vlasov, Russian Orthodox Church Press Service via AP)
“During these days of service, the KGB penetrated the church in general and would use it to identify basically any kind of dissent, any kind of opposition,” Koffler explained, calling it a form of statecraft.
“They would build relationships with the priests, and the priests would basically report to the KGB anyone who was perceived to be disloyal to the Soviet authorities, because when a person comes to confess, he tells them his views.”
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Koffler said Ukrainian security services entered churches affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church and conducted raids to interrogate priests and arrest them on suspicion of providing information to Russia.
“On the one hand, Zelenskyy is trying to prevent what he perceives to be the expansion of Russian influence inside Ukraine,” Koffler said. “But he’s using Soviet KGB tactics to do that.”
The Church of the Intercession of the Mother of God in Mariupol, Ukraine.
(Christopher Occhicone/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Zelenskyy has waited to execute this move, because it was something of a last resort, as Russia hits Ukraine’s infrastructure harder and faces pressure to end the war.
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An Orthodox priest blesses marching Russian paratroopers during celebrations for 2017 Paratroopers Day, the annual holiday of Russian airborne troops, at his military unit in the southern city of Stavropol, Russia.
(REUTERS/Eduard Korniyenko TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)
“He’s just trying to figure out what to do, because everything else doesn’t seem to translate to a win for Ukraine or Russia at that point,” Koffler said, adding that “we’re at an impasse” between the two countries. and the war is “ultimately unwinnable for many, many reasons.”
The move also marks the latest step in Zelenskyy’s effort to limit Russian influence in his country, which he began to eliminate even before Putin’s invasion, when he passed a law making Ukrainian the country’s official language over Russian. .
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“He is trying to preserve the sovereignty of his country, but the bottom line is that it is a very complicated issue,” Koffler concluded. “The history of Russia and Ukraine was intertwined for centuries, including religion, and now [Zelenskyy] is using the same tactics to suppress the Russian Orthodox religion inside the Ukraine, just as the Soviet KGB did.”
