Christians Not Affiliated with Moscow Patriarchate Increasingly Targets of Repression in Russia

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Dec. 23 – Vladimir Putin keeps saying that the Russian government supports “all traditional religions on the territory of Russia” (nazaccent.ru/content/44965-vladimir-putin-zayavil-o-podderzhke-vseh/); but in fact, he and his government don’t do so but rather limit what support they give to religious structures that cooperate with the state.

            The clearest example of this, Point Media journalist Ivan Zheyanov says, is to be found in the case of Christianity where the Russian state, supported by the Moscow Patriarchate, is increasingly targeting Christians not affiliated with or subordinate to the ROC MP (pointmedia.io/story/694986c5e657f59b666dce95).

            The repression of the Jehovah’s Witnesses has been going on for some time and continues unabated. But other Christian groups within Russia are also being fined by the government for activities that are not coordinated with the ROC MP or the Russian government including but not limited to the Gideons and those who hold services or sing songs independently.

            This pattern makes a mockery of Putin’s claim to support traditional religions. Instead, the Kremlin leader and his regime are prepared to support only those who are part of religious structures that have agreed to work with the state and often, as has been well documented, are in fact run by state agencies for their purposes rather than the religious for theirs.

            Unfortunately, Russian propaganda to the contrary on this point is only rarely challenged, and many people in Western countries, including perhaps most prominently the United States, have accepted the notion that Putin’s Russia is a bastion in the defense of traditional values rather than being simply an authoritarian state on the way to the restoration of totalitarianism.