Is Russia really a Christian state?

On Christmas Day 2024, Russia launched a massive attack on energy and civilian infrastructure across Ukraine. The attacks by cruise and ballistic missiles caused blackouts in at least seven regions of our country.

From our air defence system monitoring apps, at least 1,455 air raid alarms have gone off since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. More are still expected.

By 30 November 2024, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights had recorded 40,176 civilian casualties in Ukraine since February 24, 2022: 12,340 killed and 27,836 injured.

These attacks against civilians were repeated on January 1, 2025, when at least 100 missiles and kamikaze drones were sent towards Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital. While most of the missiles were contained by the air defence system, at least one hit a civilian building in the city and two people were killed.

These two people were scientists studying the human brain. My colleagues at the Embassy knew these victims: being the scholars and the professors, the deceased couple were also Christians. 

All these attacks have been celebrated not only by the Russian administration but also have the backing of the Russian Orthodox Church.

During his recent address Kirill, the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, called on the Russian believers not to be afraid of nuclear war and its repercussions.

“The fear mongering around possible apocalyptic scenarios, excessive alarmism and nuclear speculation are not beneficial from a spiritual point of view” – Patriarch Kirill said, quoted by TASS agency. “Christians are not afraid of the so-called "end of the world. We are waiting for the Lord Jesus, who will come in great glory, destroy evil and judge all nations”, he continued, “Our earthly calling is to be warriors of the Lord (...) to wage war against the spirits of evil and defend high moral ideals. This is the goal setting of Russia.”

The Christian leader of the modern world is calling on its nation not to be afraid of the nuclear apocalypse.

I read it twice before realising it’s not another piece of Russian fake news but an actual quote from the Russian top-priest. It is definitely not only going beyond the foundations of the Christian faith, but in fact contradicts them. As we all know, Ukraine does not have weapons of mass destruction.

More than that: no country in the world among those who do possess them has ever threatened Russia with the use of a nuke!

So, the only plausible explanation for this: the Russian church is helping its government to justify the potential use of nuclear weapons.

This is not the first time Russia is weaponising the Russian Orthodox Church to favour its interests. It is one of the many hybrid means used by the Russian state to influence and justify its actions.

Russia continues to commit crimes against religious freedom during its war against Ukraine, including the killing of worshippers and religious leaders, the destruction of religious buildings and holy sites across Ukraine, and the persecution of non-Russian Orthodox religious communities in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.

The Ukrainian government has a duty to protect its citizens from the influence of the aggressor state including the “preachings” of the above-mentioned church-leader.

Now coming back to the victims of the Russian attack on Christmas and New Year’s days. As I’ve mentioned, a couple of scientists, killed in the recent attacks, believed in God. They were teaching their students not only to study the brain’s impulses, but to investigate human nature acknowledging the fact that the thought and the idea are material, and not ethereal, therefore the word of love, that Jesus spread, remains a physical impulse thousands of years after the first ever Christmas was celebrated.

On the contrary, the Russian church spreads the

H.E. Andrii Pravednyk is the Ambassador of Ukraine to Kenya.