Attitude of Russian Aggressors and their Supporters to Believers of Different Faiths in Ukraine (2014—2022)

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of the attitude of the Russian aggressors and their proxies to the religious communities of Ukraine in 2014–2022. It has been established that in its essence «Russian World» is a neo-imperial geopolitical ideological doctrine aimed at theoretical justification and practical restoration of «great historical Russia» in the borders of the Russian Empire at the peak of its power in 1914. It turned out that with the help of the «Russian world», an important «soft power» of the Kremlin, Russia first planned to take over the mental space of Ukraine and the brains of its citizens, and then, in case of urgent need, to enter its troops and finally annex this territory to their state. It is shown that the Russian Orthodox Church played an important role in the neo-imperial plans of Russia, as it acted as an active provider of the «Russian world» in the spiritual, political, cultural and humanitarian space of Ukraine, and with the help of its branch, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, actively created threats and obstacles to the consolidation of Ukrainian society, thereby destroying the spiritual and practical foundations of unifying processes in Ukraine. It is substantiated that Russia's undeclared war against Ukraine and Ukrainians, which began in 2014 and its temporary occupation of a large part of Ukrainian territories, became a real test for the Ukrainian state and its citizens and a terrible tragedy for believers of all faiths. The main reason for the hatred of religious communities by Russian terrorist groups in the temporarily occupied territories has been determined, which consists in the fact that the occupiers recognize only one religious organization as legitimate, namely the Russian Orthodox Church and its integral part – the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, all other religious denominations are illegal and hostile and must therefore be eliminated. Examples of crimes against humanity committed by Russian terrorist forces in the territories temporarily occupied by the enemy of Ukraine against religious communities are highlighted.