Russia is weaponising Orthodox Christianity as part of a genocidal attack on Ukraine, persecuting Catholics, other Christians and other faith communities in the besieged nation, according to a report. Source: OSV News.
Mission Eurasia, a US-based ministry that trains Christian missionaries and leaders in 13 nations spanning Europe, Asia and Israel, released its findings on February 4 in a report, “Faith Under Russian Terror: Analysis of the Religious Situation in Ukraine.”
The 52-page report calls for the Russian Federation to be designated a state sponsor of terrorism.
Available at missioneurasia.org, the report was produced by Mykhailo Brytsyn, director of Mission Eurasia’s Religious Freedom Initiative, and Maksym Vasin, director of international advocacy and research at the Kyiv-based Institute for Religious Freedom.
The publication is a sequel to the organisation’s 2023 release, “Faith Under Fire”, which documented the state of religious freedom in the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine from February 2022 to mid-2023.
That report and Mission Eurasia’s latest release add to an expanding body of evidence documenting the Russian state’s use of detention, torture, imprisonment and execution – as well as bans against specific faiths and seizure of houses of worship – to suppress religious practice in occupied areas of Ukraine, and to force Christians of various denominations to convert to Russian Orthodoxy.
The Mission Eurasia data was drawn from some 50 in-person interviews, conducted from August 2023 to December 2024, with clergy and representatives of all Christian denominations in Ukraine, including Orthodox Christians, Greek and Roman Catholics, and Protestants from various faith traditions, among them Baptist, evangelical, Pentecostal and Mennonite.
The report’s authors said some sources were anonymised to protect their safety and that of fellow believers and family members living under Russian occupation.
The Mission Eurasia report noted that Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, launched February 24, 2022, continued attacks initiated in 2014.
The report said Russian forces have so far damaged or destroyed several hundred religious sites in Ukraine, with the Institute for Religious Freedom citing a total of at least 650.
Mission Eurasia noted that “at least 47 Ukrainian religious leaders have been killed as a result of Russia’s full-scale aggression”.
FULL STORY
Report: Russia weaponises Orthodoxy to persecute, kill Christians in Ukraine (By Gina Christian, OSV News)
