Putin hasn’t Attacked the Free Masons Despite Long History of Russian Hostility toward Them, Anonymous Writer Says in ‘The Moscow Times’

Paul Goble
    Staunton, Mar. 27 – Over the last several centuries, many prominent Russians have become free masons and then been attacked by both the state and society for their membership in that secret society. But today, they have somehow remained “in the Kremlin’s good books” and have escaped such attacks, according to an anonymous writer in The Moscow Times.
    Indeed, the writer says, “free masonry may be one of Russia’s safest independent civic groups.” According to Andrey Bogdanov, the grand master of the Russian lodge, his organization “has no issues” as far as operating in Russia (themoscowtimes.com/2025/03/27/how-the-secretive-freemasons-stayed-in-the-kremlins-good-books-a88501).
    Given the history of Russian nationalist and government attacks on Masons and their involvement in supposed “Jewish-Masonic conspiracy,” the absence of attacks on masons and their organization in Russia is striking especially given how ready the Kremlin is to attack other independent groups.
    A major reason for masonry’s immunity from attack appears to be its low profile and its declaration that none of its estimated 1300 members occupies a significant position in the government. Moreover, its public pronouncements are overwhelmingly patriotic and consistent with the Kremlin line.
The Moscow Patriarchate and various Russian nationalists don’t like the masons and occasionally issue pronouncements against them, but the Kremlin and the masons appear to “have reached a mutual understanding … happy to leave each other alone and to maintain a distant almost secret acquaintanceship.”
Neither has anything “to gain by rocking that boat,” the anonymous author says, adding that maybe some things are best kept secret.” But Russian history suggests that in the transition from Putin to a new ruler, the masons could become the object of attack by those seeking to mobilize Russian nationalists for or against the new regime.