The Council of Christian Churches of Ukraine has expressed its “profound indignation” over what it describes as the continued instrumentalization of religion by the Russian state in order to justify and sustain its aggressive policies.
In a statement issued in Kyiv, the Council said that the immediate impetus for its intervention was the recent “Report of the Foreign Intelligence Service” of the Russian Federation, published on January 12, 2026, as well as a subsequent statement issued on January 15 by the Christian Interconfessional Consultative Committee (CICC), an institution bringing together church leaders whose activities are connected to the Russian Federation.
According to the Ukrainian Churches, the document disseminated by Russian intelligence advances unfounded accusations against Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, describing the public attack as “culturally and morally unacceptable.” The statement notes that this unprecedented assault, both in style and spirit, recalls “the worst examples of Bolshevik anti-religious propaganda,” by which the Soviet regime sought to conceal systematic violations of human rights, terror, and the persecution of religion.
The Council further underlined that the appearance of the CICC statement immediately after the Russian intelligence report, and its repetition of the same positions in more restrained language, testifies to “the close connection between the Russian state and the leadership of major religious associations of the Russian Federation.” In the Council’s assessment, the CICC document constitutes an attempt to justify Russia’s policy of using religious organizations as instruments for promoting the aggressive ideology of the so-called “Russian world” (Russkiy mir).
Drawing on historical experience from the Soviet era, the Council said it is “absolutely convinced” that the CICC statement was issued under pressure from the Russian state and at its behest. Both texts, it stressed, are filled with falsehoods and distortions of reality, serving Russia’s state propaganda and targeting all those who resist the ideology of the “Russian world,” which, from a Christian perspective, has been condemned, including in the Helsinki Statement of the Conference of European Churches.
“The Kremlin dictatorship once again confirms that it uses religious rhetoric and religious centers located on the territory of the Russian Federation as tools of hybrid warfare,” the statement says, referring not only to Ukraine but also to the Baltic states, Moldova, and other regions.
On behalf of the Churches they represent, the Council affirmed that genuine freedom of religion is ensured in Ukraine, both at the legislative level and in practice, rejecting claims of religious persecution as false and persistently promoted by pro-Russian propaganda. The Council expressed solidarity with Ukrainian society and the Ukrainian state in opposing the use of religion and religious institutions as instruments for inciting and justifying war, stressing that the promotion of the concept of a “holy war” constitutes a violation of fundamental Gospel principles and of the freedom of religion.
Finally, the Council called on Christian leaders worldwide, inter-Christian institutions, including the World Council of Churches, governments, international organizations, and human rights defenders to defend freedom of conscience and religion against deliberate and systemic attacks by the Russian Federation, to support religious leaders and institutions subjected to propaganda, repression, and persecution for their anti-war stance, to counter the instrumentalization of religion as a tool of hybrid warfare, and to consistently expose and condemn the ideology of the “Russian world” as incompatible with Gospel teaching, fundamental human rights, and universal values.
The statement is signed by the heads of Ukraine’s major Christian Churches and communities, including Metropolitan Epifaniy of Kyiv, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, and representatives of the Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, Evangelical, and Armenian Apostolic Churches.
