Russian church redoubles propaganda efforts in Portugal, community reports

The Russian Orthodox Church in Portugal is reportedly wielding its oversized influence to drown out pro-Kyiv voices among Ukrainian refugees and limit the community presence of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, according to Pavlo Sadokha, Vice-President of the Ukrainian World Congress and President of the Union of Ukrainians in Portugal.

The “Russian FSB [Federal Security Service]-linked Moscow Patriarchate is expanding its reach among refugees from Ukraine,” and gets support from the Portuguese Catholic Church, Sadokha said.

Russian bishops use church services and rituals across the country to cloak their propaganda dissemination efforts, as well as its calls to support the Russian military, all while using the Russian language. 

In response, the Ukrainian community has submitted numerous appeals to the Conference of Bishops of Portugal and provided explanatory articles to Portuguese media that highlight “the true nature of the Moscow sect of the Russian Orthodox Church,” Sadokha said.

He lamented the fact that those letters and articles had not convinced the leadership of the Portuguese Catholic Church that they were not only contributing to the genocide of Ukrainians but also “inviting a dangerous snake into their home.”

“It gradually erodes the national soul from within, as has occurred in Ukraine and other countries affected by the ‘Russkiy mir’ [literally Russian World, a conceptual doctrine that Russian culture is superior – ed.],” Sadokha added.

The community has also reported that the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church was experiencing “certain pressure from individual dioceses (for example, in Porto).”

Sadokha said the pressure comes in the form of discouraging Ukrainian priests from participating in political events that support Ukraine.

Priests are also pressured not to “maintain connections with the Union of Ukrainians in Portugal, which openly exposes the threats posed by the Russian Orthodox Church and the ‘Russkiy mir’,” Sadokha said.