Russia Accused of Persecuting Christians in Ukraine

Russia has been accused of continuing its persecution of Christians in occupied Ukrainian territory amid the full-scale invasion launched by President Vladimir Putin more than three years ago.

Newsweek has contacted Russia’s Foreign Ministry for comment by email.

Why It Matters

It adds to the growing list of human rights violations Russia has been accused of committing throughout the war. This notably includes the charges brought against Putin by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in March 2023, turning him into a global outlaw for the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia.

What To Know

As the war unfolded, reports emerged that Russian authorities had mistreated and persecuted religious minorities in Ukraine.

In a 2023 religious freedom report, the U.S. State Department accused Russian officials of investigating, detaining, imprisoning, torturing, and physically abusing individuals because of their religion.

Russian sources also indicate that at least five clergy members have been killed, with others abducted and their church properties either damaged or seized.

Russia “persecutes a wide array of Christian churches, except the Ukrainian Orthodox Church—Moscow Patriarchate, which Putin co-opts,” the Hudson Institute said in commentary published in April 2024.

This persecution is continuing today, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a U.S.-based independent think tank, assessed late on Monday.

The ISW said Russia is targeting in particular Evangelical Christian communities in Ukraine’s occupied Kherson region “as part of a wider campaign in occupied Ukraine aimed at destroying independent Ukrainian national and religious identities.”

The think tank cited a report by the Center of National Resistance of Ukraine on Sunday that Russian-installed officials in the occupied region are “forcibly converting and reconsecrating Ukrainian churches into the Russian Orthodox Church Moscow Patriarchate (ROC MP).”

“The Ukrainian Resistance Center reported that ROC MP priests watch Russian occupation officials torture Ukrainian Protestant Christian believers and force Ukrainian children to pray for the ‘Russkiy Mir’ (Russian World)—a Kremlin-promoted geopolitical concept with amorphous parameters that broadly encompasses Russian language, culture, Orthodoxy, and media,” the ISW said.

Russia has demanded that Ukraine cede its occupied territories—Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia—as part a peace deal to bring an end to the war.

What People Are Saying

Dmitry Peskov, Kremlin press secretary, told reporters last month: “The territories that have become subjects of the Russian Federation, which are inscribed in our country’s constitution, are an inseparable part of our country. This is undeniable and nonnegotiable.”

What Happens Next

Russia, Ukraine, and the U.S. are continuing to work toward a possible ceasefire in the war. On Monday in Saudi Arabia, Washington and Moscow officials discussed a possible proposal for a ceasefire at sea.