PACE defined the Russian Church as an “ideological extension of Vladimir Putin’s regime”

On April 17, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted a resolution related to the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. The adopted document said the Russian state “persecuted and ultimately killed” Navalny for joining the opposition to Vladimir Putin’s regime.

In its resolution, PACE said that under the rule of Vladimir Putin, Russia has turned into a dictatorship and the ruling regime has “dedicated itself entirely to the war against democracy“. Vladimir Putin’s regime adheres to the neo-imperialist ideology of the “Russian World”, which the Kremlin has turned into a tool for war-mongering. This ideology is used to destroy the remnants of democracy, militarize Russian society, and justify external aggression to expand the borders of the Russian Federation to include all territories that were once under Russian rule, including Ukraine.

The resolution also refers to the Russian Orthodox Church and its head, patriarch Cyril of Moscow.

The document criticizes patriarch Cyril, and the Russian Orthodox Church is defined as “… an ideological continuation of the regime of Vladimir Putin, involved in war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the name of the Russian Federation and the ideology of the Russian world.”

The statement also said that the Moscow Patriarchate and patriarch Cyril propagate the ideology of the “Russian world”, calling the war against Ukraine “the holy war of all Russians” and calling on Orthodox believers to sacrifice themselves for Russia.

“PACE is appalled by such abuse of religion and distortion of the Christian Orthodox tradition by the regime of Vladimir Putin and his proxies in the Moscow Patriarchate,” the resolution said.