Russia’s Protestants Gain Status in Moscow for Their Pro-War Stance, Lunkin Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Jan. 31 – When Vladimir Putin launched his expanded invasion of Ukraine almost a year ago, many in the West assumed that Protestants in Russia would take the lead in opposing the war. Not only has that not happened, but many Protestant leaders there have been more supportive of Russian aggression than have some Orthodox and Muslim divines.

            No one should have been surprised, Roman Lunkin, a senior specialist on religious affairs at Moscow’s Institute of Europe. In Russia, Protestants often have been treated as Western agents sent to Russia to undermine Orthodoxy and the Russian state; and Protestants themselves have long wanted to challenge that (ng.ru/ng_religii/2023-01-31/9_544_dreams.html).

            For more than a century, the scholar says, Protestants in Russia have sought to develop good relations with both the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian state despite attacks against them from both quarters. They have seldom had much luck, but the war in Ukraine has provided them with an almost unique opportunity.

            By supporting Putin’s move, they may have betrayed some of the principles of their faith but they have gained something else: a new status in Moscow and even the protection of their religious leaders from criminal prosecution when they have taken actions that have landed others behind bars.

            Whether this situation will continue remains far from clear, given the suspiciousness of the Moscow Patriarchate and the Kremlin; but it is a reasonable bet by the Protestant leadership in Russia, one that they seem committed to continuing to make for reasons perhaps not drawn from their faith itself but from an interest in surviving in Russia, Lunkin suggests.