How Russia's Fake Spirituality Became a Key Weapon in the Kremlin’s Disinformation Toolbox

Under Putin, Christianity has been turned into a political tool to spread false narratives about the war in Ukraine

Here’s something to consider for future clergymen about to finish their theologian studies: How about a trip to the frontline? To most future priests, such an offer might sound strange and not the least bit tempting.

For Russian ordinands, it is merely the latest example of the fusion between the Orthodox Church of Russia (UOC-MP) and the Putin regime’s wars of conquest. Last week, Patriarch Kirill unveiled a new master’s program called “Training and Interaction of Military Clergy With the Armed Forces”. The courses are set to train ‘military clergy’ in Rostov-on-Don close to the fighting in Ukraine.

While the Orthodox Church in Russia retains a formal independence, it is de facto subservient to the whims of the state, and in the current totalitarian climate, Vladimir Putin is the state, to paraphrase Louis XIV.

For Putin, it is imperative that his invasion of Ukraine is framed as a spiritual war in defence of Russo-Christian values. It is therefore hardly surprising that the Church’s supreme leader gave his blessing to the war, which he has labelled “a holy war”.

On the frontlines, orthodox priests bless Russian tanks and missiles while Maria Zakharova, Putin’s chief propagandist at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, adds to the Christian fervour by describing Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy as “satanic”.

The Resurrection of an Old Alliance

The merging of church and state power is nothing new in Russia, but should rather be seen as the resurrection of a dormant alliance. The Orthodox Church has historically nurtured strong ties to the central rulers, not least during the final decades of the House of Romanov, where the deeply religious Nicholas II erected more than 10,000 new churches and joined a pilgrimage during the canonisation of Saint Seraphim of Sarov in 1903. 

Following decades of suppression in the Soviet era, Orthodox Christianity saw a revival in the wake of its collapse. This also meant that the concept of Russkiy Mir — a term containing a double meaning of both ‘Russian peace’ and ‘the Russian world’ — was redefined. While the concept had been popularised as a geopolitical tool during the Soviet era, it gradually developed a spiritual dimension as well.

This recoupling of the political and the religious was largely overseen by Kirill, who served as Patriarch Alexy II’s right-hand man in the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate until 2008. 

Following Alexy’s death that same year, Kirill was enthroned as primate of the Church. From his undisputed power position, he reaffirmed the relationship between the Kremlin and the Church by describing Putin as “a miracle from God” ahead of the secular ruler’s reascension to the presidency in 2012. His direct involvement with Russian politics was cemented during the large anti-government protests known as the Snow Revolution (2011-2013), which Kirill likened to “ear-piercing shrieks”.

While aiding Putin domestically, the direct politicisation of the Russian Church has also redefined its message abroad, where Kirill has thrown his weight behind Putin’s neo-imperialism.

His sermons on the “sacred Russian land” are informed by a revanchist ambition to reintegrate the Russian territories into the Patriarchate of old, including Ukraine.

Fearing a weakened authority in Ukraine, the Church was initially sceptical of the annexation of Crimea and even boycotted a ceremony in the Kremlin to celebrate the annexation.

Such concerns have long been buried, however, and the new, imperialist-crusader approach was cemented three months into the full-scale invasion, where Kirill held a speech lamenting Vladimir Lenin’s “dismemberment and humiliation” of Russia’s historic border claims. 

Beneath the religious garments, we find a different Kirill than the lamb of God presented to the public. The patriarch was born Vladimir Gundyayev and was a KGB agent in his former life.

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Gundyayev used his position as head of the Church’s foreign relations to secure a monopoly on importing cigarettes to the newly liberalised economy. This raked in a fortune of between $1.4 – 4 billion.

Gundyayev has also enriched himself in the process; his estimated personal net worth ranges from $4-8 billion and is stashed away in secret Swiss and Italian bank accounts.

The patriarchal palace outside Saint Petersburg was recently given a luxury renovation to the tune of $43 million, while his summer residence on the Black Sea, valued at $240 million, is nothing to scoff at either.

In the Church of Gundyayev, Matthew 19:24 (“it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone rich to enter the kingdom of God”) is not viewed as a central passage. 

Preaching to a Western Audience

The mutual benefits of the (un)holy alliance are obvious. Kirill provides Putin with a thin veneer of religious legitimacy for waging his wars while receiving a king’s ransom in return.

The spiritual validation is first and foremost intended to pacify the Russian people. But despite the obvious corruption that permeates the Russian Orthodox Church, and the fact that its application of Christian values like brotherly love, moderation and peace is selective at best, the Russian narrative of defending Christian virtues still resonates throughout the Western world. 

Just look at the claims put forward by pop psychologist Jordan Peterson, who tells us that “there’s every sign of a revival of Christianity in Russia”. Peterson tells his followers that Russia is witnessing “a veritable storm of church building and Cathedral construction” and triumphantly points out that Putin is “himself in principle a practising Christian”. 

A similar narrative is used by Hungarian autocrat Viktor Orbán, once a self-defined agnostic liberal, who now styles himself as a defender of “traditional” Christian values alongside his ally in the Kremlin. When Kirill was removed from the EU sanctions packages, it was in no small part thanks to pressure from Orbán. 

The Russian narrative is compelling to many Westerners, especially those who identify as Christian and feel threatened by secularism. Putin understands those fears perfectly, and while his faith remains doubtful — he is certainly no Nicholas II — the old KGB agent knows exactly which buttons to push to convince the true believers.

People like Donald Trump Jr make it all the easier for him by eagerly spreading false Russian narratives about Ukraine banning the Orthodox Church. Even the late Pope Francis bought this particular disinformation narrative hook, line and sinker.

When it comes to feeding Western audiences with false narratives about Ukraine’s “war on Christianity”, and, conversely, Russia’s spiritual mission, none has been more fervent a zealot than Tucker Carlson.

During an October 2023 interview with Bob Amsterdam, an American lawyer representing the Russian Orthodox Church (and paid for his services by Russian oligarch Vadym Novynskyi), Carlson dedicated an entire episode of his show to promoting this false narrative to his largely Christian audience.

The case revolved around draft law 8371, a bill that gave the Ukrainian authorities the power to investigate religious groups in Ukraine tied to the Russian Federation. Carlson titled the episode ‘Biden’s biggest crime’. What Carlson and Amsterdam forgot to mention was how a number of the Church’s priests had been banned in Russia after criticising the war. The interview also omitted the numerous killings of priests by the invaders, like Stepan Podolchak, who was killed after refusing to convert to the Moscow patriarchate. 

Christianity as a Cover

A brief examination of Christianity in Russia paints a somewhat different picture than what vatniks like Peterson and Carlson propagate to their gullible audience. Only 10% of Russians attend church every month. The “veritable storm of church building and Cathedral construction” disguises the fact that most of them are half-empty, accelerated even more by declining birth rates and hundreds of thousands of dead soldiers. Ironically, monthly church attendance is almost double in Ukraine. 

The persecution narrative is an easily recognisable motif to a Christian audience. But is Christianity threatened in Ukraine? Of course not. We are once again witnessing an effective Russian disinformation campaign.

The Russian Orthodox Church (UOC-MP) was banned due to being deeply infiltrated by Russian intelligence operatives, who were, among many other things, training mercenaries for the war and acting as spotters for Russian artillery strikes. This was a real national security threat that the Ukrainian state would have been foolish to ignore. The fake Russian church was replaced by a Ukrainian church in 2019, which was consecrated by the Patriarch of Constantinople. The concerns about Christians being unable to practise their faith in Ukraine are, in other words, entirely baseless. 

While the Orthodox Church’s espionage activities have been curtailed in Ukraine, Russian intelligence continues to use it as cover for clandestine operations in a slew of other countries, in addition to spreading an increasingly radical message.

In Sweden, the local branch of the church has bought a series of properties conspicuously close to Swedish military installations. This is also the case in Norway, where clergymen have been gathering intel on drinking water management in border towns. Were they looking for water to consecrate — or was their mission perhaps less sacred?

In France, a ‘cultural centre’ suspected of being a spying hub was erected in 2016 within a stone’s throw of the French foreign ministry.

In other instances, the Church’s extensive espionage activities have already been proven beyond doubt. When the abbot of the Russian Orthodox Church in Sofia was expelled from Bulgaria in September 2023, officials described his “extensive use of hybrid strategies” to sustain Russia’s influence and geopolitical interests.

In Estonia, which has a large Russian and Orthodox minority, the Church’s extremist rhetoric has also forced Tallinn to expel the head of the Church because his message of division and hate was a threat to national security.

While the examples are numerous, even just scratching the surface quickly reveals that Russia is far from the spiritual bastion that state propaganda tries to put on display.

Putin might be savvy enough to don a cross and attend Easter Sunday Mass, but it’s all for show. The Kremlin’s fake spirituality is emblematic of how religion has been weaponised and turned it into a political tool in Russia, and the ‘Christian values’ narrative is part of an extensive information war being waged at home and abroad. Don’t fall for it.