Russia has turned the issue of religion into an effective hybrid weapon, using the Orthodox Church for subversive activities and information operations against Ukraine, as reported by euvsdisinfo.
According to sociologists, religion is important for 70% of Ukrainians, which makes this sphere an ideal target for manipulation. The main conflict centers on two organizations: the independent Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), which historically was subordinate to Moscow. Despite attempts by the UOC to distance itself from Russia after 2022, an expert assessment by the State Service for Ethnopolitics confirmed its continuing ties with the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), whose activities in Ukraine were legally banned in 2024.
Cooperation between clergy and special services has been systematic since the KGB era, when intelligence services controlled seminaries and forced priests to break the confidentiality of confession. This continuity has also been visible in modern times: hierarchs of the UOC supported the occupation of Crimea in 2014, sheltered militants in churches in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, and blessed Russian weapons.
In September 2022, three high-ranking representatives of the UOC were present in the Kremlin at the ceremony of annexation of Ukrainian regions. As a result, from the start of the full-scale invasion until November 2025, the SBU opened 208 criminal cases against UOC clergy for anti-Ukrainian activities.
In addition to enforcement actions, a large-scale system of information interference has been deployed. Resources such as the “Union of Orthodox Journalists,” “First Cossack,” and the networks “Myriany” and “Raskolam.net” actively operate on YouTube, Telegram, and TikTok. They promote conspiracy theories claiming that the Ukrainian government consists of “Satanists controlled by the West” who have unleashed a “civil war between brothers.” Through these channels, Kremlin propaganda convinces believers that Russia is waging a “holy war” for true Christianity and the reunification of the “triple Orthodox people.”
A special role in this war is assigned to the manipulation of meanings and “semantic capture.” Pro-Russian resources impose aggressive terminology on Ukrainian society: parishioners of the OCU are called “schismatics” or “heretics” — experts have identified more than 10,200 such posts on Telegram.
Dehumanizing language is also used: Ukrainians are referred to as “demons,” “godless,” and “antichrists.” This rhetoric, 90% of which is generated in Russia, is aimed at provoking internal conflict in Ukraine and justifying genocide.
Ukraine has become for the Kremlin a testing ground for using church structures as an instrument of hybrid aggression. Given the rise in sabotage activity and information pressure in Europe, experts warn that Russia is attempting to use fundamental European values, such as freedom of religion, to undermine democratic institutions from within.
