The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, The State and The Russian-Ukrainian Crisis, 2014–2018

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis paper explores the significance of religion in the Russian-Ukrainian crisis which has been unfolding since February 2014. In the first place, the study presents the views on the military conflict in East Ukraine expressed in the public discourse of the most vocal religious leaders and official documents of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP). In connection with these views, special attention is given to the religious policies of the post-Euromaidan political regime in Ukraine. In particular, this concerns the government’s attempts to undermine the positions of UOC-MP which, while remaining the largest confession of Ukraine in terms of its religious network, at the same time has stood in opposition to the ideological line of the Ukrainian state regarding the interpretation of the events in Crimea and Donbas and consequently has been considered by the authorities as the main agent of Russian ideological influence.