Expert: Russia uses ‘religious persecution’ claims to undermine support for Ukraine in U.S.

This was explained in a comment to Ukrinform by conflict-resolution expert and author of the book Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing: The Russian Orthodox Church’s Threat to European Security and Democracy, Dr. Miceál O’Hurley.

“The narratives have a threefold goal.  By claiming Ukraine is ‘persecuting Christians’, the Russian government and its soft-power diplomacy arm – the Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) – seeks to maintain its Soviet-era dominion over Ukraine’s Orthodox Christians,” the expert noted.

Furthermore, Russians are “playing on the American value of freedom of religion,” guaranteed by law, and promoting false claims of “religious persecution” by the Ukrainian authorities to depict Ukrainians as hostile to American values.

Another goal of Moscow in these efforts is to weaken US Congressional support for Ukraine, especially for funding arms packages, which is crucial for enabling Ukrainians to defend themselves against aggression. To this end, Russia allocates significant funds for the Russian Orthodox Church’s lobbying efforts on Capitol Hill.

At the same time, the expert noted that countering external propaganda is no longer a priority in U.S. national security.

“Earlier this month, the Trump Administration released its National Security Strategy. The document does not mention disinformation even once, despite the ongoing problems with disinformation impacting elections at home and abroad, diminishing the public’s trust in institutions and undermining public confidence in their governments,” Dr. O’Hurley said.

Given this, and the decreasing role of Congress in oversight, coordinated efforts to address problems caused by disinformation are currently difficult to observe in the United States.

“We have witnessed how the defunding of Voice of America with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has led to Russia and China filling the void in the information space with even more disinformation. We should expect the same dynamic to grow at home as well,” the expert emphasized.

Dr. O’Hurley shared his opinion with Ukrinform after participating in a media event organized by the Working Group for Ukraine Advocacy in Washington, D.C. The event was a response to propaganda efforts by the ROC and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate in the U.S. capital. Amid the promotion of Trump’s “peace plan” for Ukraine, Moscow-affiliated actors sought to convince U.S. authorities that the UOC-MP was allegedly being persecuted on religious grounds in Ukraine, contrary to American values of freedom.

As reported by Ukrinform, Russia continues actively promoting its propaganda and disinformation aimed at European audiences, with religious organizations also participating in these hybrid influence operations.

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