The Russian Orthodox Church stands by Putin

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church and spiritual leader, Vladimir Putin, stands by him for war with Ukraine.

Al Jazeera reported in an analytical report on the events behind the scenes of the Russian Orthodox Church, writing: "A masked, uniformed soldier with a rifle carries the letter Z, the Kremlin-approved symbol for Russia's invasion of Ukraine, on his shoulder, and Jesus Christ, weak and free from aggression, is depicted right behind him."

According to Al Jazeera, both images, which are displayed on a billboard, read: "Christ conquered hell, and so will Russia." The image is installed outdoors in central Moscow and encourages Russian men to sign up to fight.

Patriarch Kirill, head of the world's largest Orthodox Christian church, which includes believers in former Soviet countries and immigrants, defended the Kremlin's right to start the war and said he would continue to support it. "Russia has the right to stand on the side of God's light and truth," he said in February 2022, just days after the war began.

Patrick Creel also noted in April last year: “The goal of the West was to deceive us empty-handed and without any war, to make us part of their world and imbue us with Western values.” He also promised eternal salvation to Russian soldiers fighting against Ukraine.

The Kremlin, which persecutes every Christian denomination, has turned the Russian Orthodox Church into a kind of moral police that sanctifies the persecution of ideological and political enemies. Fugitive opposition activist Sergei Bizyukin believes that the Kremlin needs the church's ideological support and gives it privileges such as real estate, state funding and pressure on competitors.

Nikolai Mitrokhin, an expert on Russian studies and a member of the University of Bremen in Germany, said about this support: "The participation of the Russian Orthodox Church in the war means the prospect of losing its global character and influence and reducing its borders to the borders of Putin's political empire. Support for Putin's war directly leads to the strengthening of Kirill's short-term influence and an increase in the number of autonomous churches."