Kremlin church expands network in occupied Ukrainian territories

The Russian Church is expanding its network in Ukraine’s temporarily occupied territories, the National Resistance Center (NRC) reports. In the captured villages and cities, so-called church volunteers from the Patriarchal Humanitarian Mission of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) have become more active.

“Under the guise of volunteers, they “help” lonely and sick local residents who find themselves under Russian occupation to get rid of their property rights. But above all, their main mission in Ukraine is to expand their agent network and ideological influence on Ukrainians under occupation,” the NRC reports.

These “volunteers” began traveling to the temporarily occupied territories immediately after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion. “Their first mission was to the Kalinin “republican hospital” in temporarily occupied Donetsk. Then they visited a local neuropsychiatric clinic,” the message states.

In addition to these “humanitarian” missions, the Kremlin is actively sending Russian Orthodox priests to the temporarily occupied areas. “To brainwash the locals and to make them feel bad about the low moral and psychological state of the occupiers. The National Resistance Centre calls for reporting collaborators so that each of them does not escape punishment for crimes against humanity,” the NRC emphasized.

In August, the Ukrainian Parliament passed a law in the second reading banning the activities of religious organizations associated with Russia within Ukraine.