Russia is Not the Orthodox Iran Some Believe, Baunov Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, June 4 – Many commentators in Russia over the last several years have suggested that Vladimir Putin is on his way to converting Russia into “an Orthodox Iran” in which the state imposes the values of that Christian denomination on society. (For an example, see windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2023/01/putin-wants-russia-to-be-orthodox-iran.html.)

            But Aleskandr Baunov, an analyst at the Carnegie Endowment’s Moscow Center, argues that recent actions by the Russian government such as plans in the Duma to ban sex change operations, something Tehran does not ban but even supports via insurance schemes, show that such analogies are far from correct (polit.ru/news/2023/06/02/baunov/).

            The Duma attacks on transgenders, he says, demonstrate that “Russia is no Orthodox Iran. In Iran, sex change operations are routine” because “the Iranian government is really religious,” imposes on society what the religious texts say but allows for interpretation on issues, including sex change operations, where the basic texts are silent.

            Put “crudely,” Baunov says, in Iran, the state takes the ideas of the mosque out into the yard while in Russia, the values of the populace are brought into the church as state policy without much regard to what the religious texts say. In Iran, religion is primary; in Russia, it is secondary and at most something to be used rather than a source of ideas as such.

            “This doesn’t mean that life in Russia is more difficult in Iran,” he continues. “Unlike in Iran, homosexuality has not yet been criminalized here; and it is easier to be a woman, at least when it comes to dress. But as far as sex change operations are concerned, something the basic texts of both faiths are silent, the situation is different.

            “For traditional Iran,” the question of gender reassignment is peripheral and subject to interpretation as far as religion is concerned. But “for pseudo-traditional Russia, it turns out to be central” – but not because of the religion of its people but because of the political goals of its leaders.