01/07/2026 11:20
- 12:20
HALL: Pola - School of Journalism
Contact:
Chapnin S.
authorAMC:
Chapnin S.
Speaker:
Kordochkin A.,
Uzlaner D.
Chair:
Uzlaner D.
This panel examines systematic religious persecution in the Russian Federation following the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, wherein state authorities instrumentalize both legal frameworks and ecclesiastical structures to suppress faith-based opposition to military aggression.
The persecution exhibits cross-confessional characteristics, affecting Orthodox, Baptist, Pentecostal, Catholic, Jewish, and Buddhist communities alike. Orthodox Christians confront uniquely severe dual mechanisms of repression: concurrent criminal prosecution by state authorities and canonical sanctions through ecclesiastical courts. This phenomenon represents a significant distortion of Orthodox canonical tradition, whereby church discipline is transformed from a means of preserving spiritual integrity into an instrument of political conformity.
Evidence reveals methodical escalation patterns: initial administrative warnings advance to "foreign agent" designations, succeeded by administrative penalties and culminating in criminal prosecutions carrying substantial custodial sentences. Digital surveillance infrastructure undergirds this system, while state authorities actively cultivate cultures of denunciation wherein parishioners report clergy for minimal liturgical deviations from prescribed texts.
Institutional silence constitutes a particularly significant dimension of this crisis. Russian religious hierarchies and most international ecumenical bodies have failed to offer public solidarity with persecuted believers. The Ecumenical Patriarchate remains a notable exception in providing canonical refuge. This ecclesiastical abandonment normalizes the subordination of religious conscience to state imperatives, with implications extending throughout post-Soviet space, including Belarus and Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories.
