ISW: Russia uses religion as weapon

Russian occupation authorities are likely conducting a campaign of systematic religious persecution in occupied Ukraine. 

"Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russian soldiers or occupational authorities have reportedly committed at least 76 acts of religious persecution in Ukraine," Caliber.Az reports, citing an analysis of the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

The analysis adds that Russia may use the upcoming Orthodox Easter holiday on April 16 in an effort to delay Ukrainian counteroffensives by calling for a ceasefire out of respect for the Orthodox religion despite the fact that Russia has shown no such respect for religion in areas its forces occupy.

"Russian religious persecutions are likely also part of an ongoing Russian cultural genocide and ethnic cleansing campaign aimed at extirpating the idea of an independent Ukrainian nationality or Ukrainian Orthodox Church," ISW reports.

It notes that "Russian authorities have closed, nationalised, or forcefully converted at least 26 places of worship to the Kremlin-controlled Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, killed or seized at least 29 clergy or religious leaders, and looted, desecrated, or deliberately destroyed at least 13 places of worship in occupied Ukraine. These cases of religious repression are not likely isolated incidents but rather part of a deliberate campaign to systematically eradicate 'undesirable' religious organisations in Ukraine and promote the Moscow Patriarchate".

Russian authorities systematically repress religious liberty in Russia as a matter of state policy. Russian occupation officials have been repressing Ukrainian religious communities in proxy republics in eastern Ukraine and in illegally occupied Crimea since 2014, ISW says.

"Moscow’s religious persecution campaign seeks to eradicate the Autocephalous (independent) Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), which Moscow views as schismatic despite the decision by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople in 2019 granting the Ukrainian Orthodox Church its independence from the Moscow Patriarchate," ISW reports.

Russian occupation forces have also targeted other denominations that are distinctly culturally Ukrainian. 

"The Kremlin may call for an Easter ceasefire because such a pause would disproportionately benefit Russian troops and allow them to secure their gains in urban Bakhmut and to prepare defences against Ukraine’s spring 2023 counteroffensive," the analysis adds.

It notes that "should Russia offer and Ukraine refuse a ceasefire over Orthodox Easter the Kremlin will not thereby have demonstrated any greater devotion to the defence of Christianity or Christian values nor shown that Kyiv rejects those values.  Putin will merely have demonstrated, once again, his cynicism".

Key inflections in ongoing military operations on April 9:

Russian sources reacted with outrage to Russian authorities charging “Union of Donbas Volunteers” member Yuri Yevich with discrediting Russian forces. Russian sources claimed that Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs officials accused Yevich of delivering a tactical medicine class to Rosgvardia employees that negatively portrayed Russian forces in Ukraine.

Wagner financier Yevgeny Prigozhin directly criticized the Russian Foreign Ministry’s approach to Russia’s presidency of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and offered his own list of agenda items for the UNSC, likely a demonstrative act aimed at supporting his standing in the Russian ultranationalist community and furthering his oblique efforts to portray himself as a suitable president of Russia at some point in the future.

Ukrainian Joint Press Center of the Tavriisk Direction Head Colonel Oleksiy Dmytrashkivskyi stated that Russian forces have concentrated 113 battalion tactical groups (BTGs) in the Zaporizhia direction and 205 BTGs in the Donetsk direction.

Russian forces conducted limited ground attacks on the Kupyansk-Svatove-Kreminna line. Ukrainian Eastern Group of Forces Spokesperson Serhiy Cherevaty stated that seven engagements occurred in these directions.

Russian forces continued to conduct ground attacks in and around Bakhmut, and on the Avdiivka-Donetsk City line. Cherevaty stated that Russian Airborne (VDV) forces have appeared in Bakhmut. Russian forces likely made marginal gains in southern Bakhmut on April 9.

A Russian military blogger claimed that Ukrainian forces conducted a reconnaissance-in-force operation in western Zaporizhia Oblast.

Head of the independent Russian human rights organisation “Rus Sidyashchaya” (Russia Behind Bars) Olga Romanova claimed on April 8 that convict recruits have begun signing 18-month contracts with the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD).

Russian occupation officials are likely continuing to use medical relocation schemes to deport Ukrainian children to Russia. Luhansk People’s Republic (LNR) Head Leonid Pasechnik claimed that Russian medical specialists have examined more than 94,000 children in Luhansk Oblast and that occupation officials have sent thousands of children from Luhansk Oblast to Russian federal clinics, the majority of which are likely in Russia.