Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, speaking on 22 April at a Russian Orthodox Easter reception, stated that one of Russia's war goals in Ukraine is to protect the "honor and dignity" of Russian citizens, including their right to use the Russian language and practice the Orthodox faith, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reports.
According to ISW, Lavrov claimed that Ukraine has persecuted the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Moscow Patriarchate (UOC MP) for over a decade, and accused Kyiv of seizing churches and "attacking" UOC MP clergy and parishioners. ISW notes that the UOC MP is not an independent religious organization but the Kremlin-controlled Russian Orthodox Church's (ROC) subordinate element in Ukraine.
A long-standing justification for the war
The Kremlin has long used claims about the alleged discrimination of Russian people, the Russian language, and the ROC in Ukraine as a justification for invading Ukraine and for its continued refusal to engage in good-faith peace negotiations.
The ROC is an element of Russia's hybrid warfare toolkit, particularly in the Kremlin's efforts to promote Kremlin narratives and Russian nationalist ideology, sustain and expand Russia's influence in former Soviet states, and justify its war-making initiatives. According to the ISW, the ROC has advocated for the codification of a Russian state ideology premised on the idea that Ukraine should not exist.
Religious persecution in occupied territories
ISW reports that Russia has engaged in widespread persecution of religious minorities, including Orthodox believers, in occupied Ukraine as part of its wider campaign aimed at systematically destroying independent Ukrainian national and religious identities. Russian occupation authorities, according to ISW, regularly conduct arbitrary detention and assassinations of Ukrainian clergy or religious leaders and loot, desecrate, and deliberately destroy places of worship.
Implications for negotiations
Lavrov's 22 April claims, ISW says, demonstrate the Kremlin's continued commitment to its original war aims and disinterest in negotiations to end the war. ISW concludes that these claims are undermined by the realities of Russia's treatment of religious minority communities in occupied areas.
