A Ukrainian delegation of Christian, Jewish, and Muslim clergy visited Washington, D.C., last week.
Ukrainian religious leaders traveled to Washington, D.C., last week to warn American policy-makers that Russia is effectively wielding religious, “jihadist” language to prop up support for its war of aggression, and to urge U.S. officials to keep the much-needed aid coming.
A Ukrainian delegation of Christian, Jewish, and Muslim clergy came to D.C. to meet with members of Congress, think-tankers, and journalists to shore up continued U.S. support for their home country as the war there approaches its second anniversary.
While in the U.S. capital, members of the Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations (UCCRO) stressed that Russian authorities use religion as a propaganda tool to promote “Russkiy Mir,” or the “Russian world” ideology.
This worldview allows for the head of the Russian Orthodox Church to use “quasi-religious” language to propagandize in support of the Kremlin’s war effort, saying “if [Russian soldiers] go to Ukraine and die [their] sins will be forgiven,” one Ukrainian church leader explained during an event organized by the National Coalition Supporting Eurasian Jewry.
“The Kremlin totally controls all churches and religious organizations in Russia and uses them to promote the war against Ukraine,” said Metropolitan Yevstratiy (Zoria), an archbishop of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, in a UCCRO press release. “Therefore, Russian religious figures who are accomplices to the crimes of the Kremlin should not be perceived only as clergy, but it is appropriate to impose sanctions on them as propagandists carrying out orders from the Kremlin.”
The interfaith leaders also said various religious communities are being persecuted because of their faith in the Ukrainian territories now controlled by Russia, particularly Crimea and the Donbas region. Since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022, the Russian military has bombed several hundred religious institutions.
Recent data from the Ukrainian Institute for Religious Freedom show that at least 660 religious sites — including churches, prayer houses, synagogues, and mosques — have been damaged or destroyed, as of October 18. Orthodox churches have suffered the most from such attacks, with at least 246 facing destruction, while evangelical prayer houses were the second most-impacted group at 206. Many places of worship were also looted, closed, or transformed into military bases and administrative buildings by Russian troops, according to the report.
In that time, Russia has declared Protestant, Orthodox, Catholic, Jewish, and Muslim minorities in conquered Ukrainian territories “extremists” and “enemies of the people.” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormons, and Jehovah’s Witnesses also fall under this discriminatory category.
Despite the war, religious freedom largely remains intact under the Ukrainian government — at least for non-Russian congregations. Late last month, the Ukrainian parliament voted to ban the Moscow-linked Ukrainian Orthodox Church — which is different from the Orthodox Church of Ukraine — for allegedly collaborating with Russia since the war began.
The interfaith leaders consider the state’s treatment of Russian orthodoxy to be different from Russia’s persecution of Christianity and other religions. While the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is technically independent, having split from the Russian Orthodox Church toward the end of the Cold War in 1990, it maintains close ties with Moscow. In 2022, Ukraine’s constitutional court approved a law that officially changed the church’s name to make clear its relationship with Moscow. The since-banned church is now officially registered as the Ukrainian Orthodox Church — Moscow Patriarchate. Several Ukrainian Orthodox priests have been arrested for allegedly spying on behalf of Russia since the war broke out.
In addition to highlighting the role of religion in the conflict, the church-leader delegation is lobbying U.S. policy-makers for additional aid. Leaders of the UCCRO, which represents more than 90 percent of all religious organizations in Ukraine, spoke at various D.C. research centers such as the U.S. Institute of Peace and the Hudson Institute and met with government officials, including Senator Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa).
According to a handout printed by the U.S. nonprofit Razom, Ukraine can win the war if the U.S. provides long-range weapons, tanks, aircraft, and funding; helps incapacitate Russia’s war machine with economic sanctions; and supports Ukraine’s economy and post-war reconstruction.
Congress is currently weighing whether Ukraine aid should be coupled with aid to Israel in its fight against Hamas. On Thursday, the House GOP passed a bill to provide $14.3 billion to the Jewish state but did not include any aid to Ukraine. The bill will then go to the Senate, where Democrats are expected to challenge the House’s legislation for its neglect of the Eastern European conflict.
Regardless of Congress’s infighting, the Biden administration announced on Friday that it will send a security-assistance package worth $425 million to Ukraine. The U.S. has provided well over $100 billion to the Ukrainian cause in the past 20 months.
Although Democratic congressmen and the White House are fully behind Ukraine, public support continues to wane as the war drags on. According to a new Gallup poll, a 41 percent plurality of American voters said in October that the U.S. is doing “too much” to help Ukraine battle Russia. A few short months ago in June, just 29 percent of Americans had said the U.S. is doing too much.
The delegation’s meetings in D.C. concluded on Sunday and its members then traveled to Houston, Texas. While there, the faith leaders will meet with local religious figures, politicians, and opinion leaders to share personal testimonies of how Russian atrocities are affecting religious life in Ukraine.