VLADIVOSTOK, Russia | Russia’s latest attempt to claim the mantle of Orthodoxy came with barbed words and theatrical indignation. Speaking in Vladivostok, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova accused Ukraine of “religious cleansing” after Kyiv moved to ban the Moscow-linked Orthodox Church — a structure long seen by critics as an instrument of Russian influence rather than a purely spiritual body.
“By their logic, what nationality is God? What passport would He carry, and who exactly does He belong to?” Zakharova quipped, mocking Kyiv’s measures. But her sarcasm belied Moscow’s deeper frustration: the steady collapse of its religious foothold in a country where the Kremlin once held near-total sway over Orthodox identity.
Zakharova painted Russia as the protector of global Orthodoxy, promising to chronicle every alleged abuse against clergy and believers. Yet her framing glossed over the decades in which the Moscow Patriarchate has been criticized for acting as an extension of state power — promoting Kremlin narratives under the guise of spiritual authority.
Ukraine, meanwhile, has pressed ahead with enforcement of a 2024 law barring religious groups with Russian ties. Authorities have sued to dissolve the Moscow-affiliated Kyiv Metropolis led by Metropolitan Onufriy, warned dozens of parishes they will soon be outlawed, and intensified inspections of monasteries. Kyiv portrays the crackdown not as persecution but as a necessary safeguard against Moscow’s use of religion as a political weapon.
The clash highlights the uncomfortable truth at the heart of Russia’s complaint: in today’s Ukraine, Orthodoxy is no longer synonymous with Moscow. The Kremlin’s insistence on casting itself as faith’s guardian looks increasingly like a political defense of its own waning influence.
