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☆ Why Russian separatists called an exorcist when they discovered a Ukrainian POW was an evangelical Christian
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-29 | by ( Rebecca Rommen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Viktor Cherniiavskyi said he was targeted because he was an evangelical Christian. AdvertisementA Ukrainian soldier said he was tortured by Russian separatists and forced to undergo an exorcism , partly because of his evangelical Christian faith. While serving as a volunteer in the city of Luhansk in eastern Ukraine, Cherniiavskyi said he was captured by Russian-aligned forces. Second, because I'm an evangelical Christian. "In reality, Russian society, and the Kremlin, to be more precise, hates any type of Christian denomination, bar the Orthodox Church," Cherniiavskyi said.

Persons: Viktor Cherniiavskyi, —, Cherniiavskyi, Vladimir Putin's, Putin's, NICHOLAS KAMM, Russia's, Pat Buchanan, Buchanan, Putin, Dmytro Smolienko, Pastor Dmitry Bodyu, Bodyu, Mykhailo Brytsyn, Evangelical Christians Melitopol, Pastor Brytsyn Organizations: Russia, Service, Putin's Russia, Getty, Russian Orthodox Church, Boston, Kremlin, Publishing, Atlantic Council, Reuters, Tavriski Christian Institute, Life, Russian, NBC, Dallas, Fort, Grace, Evangelical Christians, Freedom, Washington DC, Religious, Orthodox Locations: Ukrainian, Russian, Russia, Luhansk, Ukraine, Moscow, South Carolina, Crimea, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Melitopol, Fort Worth, Washington, Kyiv

☆ Large Crowd Gathers for Navalny’s Funeral in Moscow
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-01 | by ( Valerie Hopkins | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Huge crowds of people, some holding flowers, turned out in Moscow on Friday for the funeral services for Aleksei A. Navalny, Russia’s most prominent opposition figure, two weeks after his mysterious death in a remote Arctic penal colony. The service took place under tight monitoring from the Russian authorities, who have arrested hundreds of mourners at memorial sites since Mr. Navalny died. Police presence was heavy around the church where funeral services began shortly after 2 p.m. local time. People chanted Mr. Navalny’s last name as his coffin was taken into the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God Soothe My Sorrows, a Russian Orthodox church in southern Moscow. A photograph taken inside the church and posted on Mr. Navalny’s YouTube channel showed him in an open coffin, lying in repose with red and white flowers over his body.

Persons: Aleksei A, Navalny, Navalny’s, Yulia Navalnaya, Daria, Zakhar Organizations: Police, of, YouTube Locations: Moscow, Russian, Russia

☆ From a Funeral Image, the Textures of Faith and State in Russia
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-01 | by ( Valerie Hopkins | Oleg Matsnev | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

This image of Aleksei A. Navalny’s body in a coffin, at a church in southern Moscow, conveys many of the traditions of the Russian Orthodox Church, an institution that has bound itself closely to the Kremlin but that also counted opposition figures, including Mr. Navalny, among its faithful. “I, to my shame, am a typical post-Soviet believer,” Mr. Navalny said in an interview in 2012. “I keep fasts, I got baptized at church, but I go to church quite rarely.”Being an Orthodox Christian, he said, made him feel “like I am part of something big and shared.”He added: “I like that there are special ethics and self-restraints. At the same time, it doesn’t bother me at all that I exist in a predominantly atheistic environment. Until I was 25 years old, before the birth of my first child, I myself was such an ardent atheist that I was ready to grab the beard of any priest.”Those remarks reflected the circumstances of many Russians who came of age as the Soviet Union broke apart and as the Russian Orthodox Church again rose to prominence in public life.

Persons: Aleksei A, Navalny, “, Mr Organizations: Russian Orthodox Church, Orthodox, Soviet Locations: Moscow, Russian, Soviet Union

☆ Navalny’s widow accuses Putin of ‘satanism’ and breaking ‘both human and God’s’ law
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-24 | by ( Darya Tarasova | Joshua Berlinger | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —The widow of the late dissident Alexey Navalny said that Russian President Vladimir Putin is engaging in “satanism” by refusing to release her husband’s body. “It’s satanism.”The video, titled “Putin’s fake faith,” was published nine days after Navalny’s death. You are breaking every law, both human and God’s.”The Kremlin denied having anything to do with Navalny’s death. The Russian prison service said he “felt unwell after a walk” and “almost immediately” lost consciousness. The elder Navalnaya has been in Salekhard, the Siberian town where Navalny’s body is being kept in a morgue, shortly after her son’s death.

Persons: Alexey Navalny, Vladimir Putin, Putin, Alexey, ” Yulia Navalnaya, ”, ” Navalnaya, “, Navalny, Lyudmila Navalnaya, Navalnaya, Navalny’s, Yulia Navalnaya, “ Putin, Saint Nicholas Organizations: CNN, Putin, Kremlin, Russian Orthodox Church Locations: ”, Russia, Salekhard, Russian

Greece has become the first majority-Orthodox Christian nation to legalize same-sex marriage under civil law. Public opinion in majority Orthodox countries has mostly been opposed, too. Civil unions may become more common among Orthodox countries gravitating toward the European Union. Greek Orthodox showed relative tolerance, with half of Orthodox saying homosexuality should be accepted and a quarter favoring same-sex marriage. As head of the Russian Orthodox Church, he oversees the world's largest Orthodox flock.

Persons: ”, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, “, George Demacopoulos, ” Demacopoulos, —, Vladimir Putin, “ perversions, Putin, Kirill, Moscow, Tiny Montenegro, Aleksandar Vucic, ″, ___ Smith, Yuras, Stephen McGrath, Illia Novikov, Veselin Toshkov Organizations: European Union, Pew Research Center, Orthodox Christian Studies Center, Fordham University, Ukrainian, of, of Human, Russian Orthodox Church, Kremlin, Russia’s, Levada, MONTENEGRO Serbia, Balkan, Serbian Orthodox Church, of Human Rights, Orthodox, Bulgarian Orthodox Church, Associated Press, Gec, Lilly Endowment Inc, AP Locations: Greece, Montenegro, Cyprus, Russia, Eastern Europe, Washington, New York, European, UKRAINE, Ukraine, RUSSIA, Russian, BELARUS, Belarus, SERBIA, MONTENEGRO, Serbia, ROMANIA, MOLDOVA Romania, Romania, Bucharest, Moldova, BULGARIA, Bulgaria, Pittsburgh, Tallin, Estonia, Belgrade, Kyiv, Sofia

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's science and higher education ministry has dismissed the head of a prestigious genetics institute who sparked controversy by contending that humans once lived for centuries and that the shorter lives of modern humans are due to their ancestors' sins, state news agency RIA-Novosti said Thursday. Although the report did not give a reason for the firing of Alexander Kudryavtsev, the influential Russian Orthodox Church called it religious discrimination. He also claimed that children “up to the seventh generation are responsible for the sins of their fathers,” according to the Russian news website Meduza. Political Cartoons View All 253 Images“We have already gone through Soviet times, when genetics was long considered a pseudoscience,” Lukyanov said. The Soviet Union under Josef Stalin suppressed conventional genetics in favor of the theories of Trofim Lysenko, who contended that acquired characteristics could be inherited by offspring.

Persons: Alexander Kudryavtsev, Fyodor Lukyanov, “, ” Lukyanov, Josef Stalin, Trofim Lysenko Organizations: MOSCOW, Novosti, Russian Academy of Science's Vavilov Institute of General Genetics, RIA, Soviet Locations: Russian

The Red Square mausoleum where his embalmed corpse lies in an open sarcophagus is no longer a near-mandatory pilgrimage but a site of macabre kitsch, open only 15 hours a week. The ideology that Lenin championed and spread over a vast territory is something of a sideshow in modern Russia. “As a result of Bolshevik policy, Soviet Ukraine arose, which even today can with good reason be called ‘Vladimir Ilyich Lenin’s Ukraine.' The Mayakovsky poem that proclaimed Lenin's immortality was “a parting word, or a spell, or a curse,” Rudakov said. At the annual military parade through Red Square, the structure is blocked from view by a tribune where dignitaries watch the festivities.

Persons: soothed, “ Lenin, Lenin, Vladimir Lenin, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Vladimir Putin's, Konstantin Morozov, Gennady Zyuganov, ”, Putin, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin’s, ” Putin, “, VTsIOM, Nadezhda Krupskaya, Lenin's, Yuri Annenkov, Josef Stalin, Leon Trotsky, Russian Orthodox Church —, Bolsheviks —, Stalin, Trotsky, Lenin ”, ’, Vladimir Rudakov, ” Rudakov, Jim Heintz Organizations: Moscow Zoo, Communist Party, Russian Academy of Sciences, AP, Union of Russian Architects, Russian Orthodox Church, Bolsheviks, Tass, The Associated Press Locations: Soviet Union, Russia, Moscow, St, Petersburg's Finland, United Russia, Ukraine, Soviet Ukraine, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin’s Ukraine, Soviet, Russian, Red, USSR, Estonia

☆ A Russian soldier says his regiment lost over 1,000 men in just 10 days of fighting in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-29 | by ( Thibault Spirlet | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A Russian soldier said his regiment lost over 1,000 men in just 10 days of fighting in Donetsk. Verkiev Igor Gennadievich was making a desperate plea for donations in a video shared by Ukraine. AdvertisementA Russian soldier said that more than 1,000 of his comrades were killed during a 10-day period while fighting in Donetsk, according to a video shared by a Ukrainian official on Tuesday. In it, Gennadievich said that his regiment was suffering "heavy losses," according to Gerashchenko's translation, adding that: "I was absent there for 10 days. Russia is also suffering losses as it tries to hold back Ukrainian advances on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River.

Persons: Verkiev Igor Gennadievich, —, Anton Gerashchenko, Gennadievich Organizations: intel, Service, UK's Ministry of Defence, MOD, Ministry of Defense Locations: Russian, Donetsk, Verkiev, Ukraine, Russia, Avdiivka, Saint Petersburg, Ukrainian, Adviivka, Dnipro

Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has led to the most serious confrontation between Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, prompting Putin to pivot towards China. Speaking to the World Russian People's Council, led by the head of Russia's Orthodox church, Patriarch Kirill, Putin's picture was shown on a giant screen beside two copies of an ancient Orthodox icon. The Russian Orthodox Church is an ardent institutional supporter of Russia's war in Ukraine, and Putin has espoused its conservatism as part of his vision for Russia's national identity. Putin says that the West is now failing in Ukraine and that its attempt to defeat Russia has also failed. Patriarch Kirill said he would pray for Putin to continue his work for the "benefit" of Russia and its people.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Mikhail Klimentyev, Putin, Kirill, Guy Faulconbridge, Bernadette Baum Organizations: Russian People's Council, Sputnik, REUTERS Acquire, Kremlin, West, NATO, KGB, Thomson Locations: Sochi, Russia, Kremlin, MOSCOW, Ukraine, Moscow, China, United States, Soviet Union, Russian

☆ Russian authorities are restricting abortion access amid population and military recruiting concerns
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-25 | by ( Katie Balevic | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Top Russian authorities are restricting abortion access to combat population stagnation. The head of the Russian Church said it would boost the population like "waving a magic wand." Russian women's groups say the policies are forcing women to birth unwanted children, per the BBC. AdvertisementTop Russian authorities are restricting abortion access, calling the procedure a "disaster." It comes amid the state's concerns over population growth, particularly where it impacts military recruiting, according to the BBC.

Persons: —, Kirill, Vladimir Putin, Putin Organizations: Service, BBC, Church, Kremlin, Central Intelligence Agency, Authorities, Feminist Movement Locations: Russian

☆ Moldova's Largest Orthodox Church Keeps Link to Russia
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-16 | by ( Nov. | At P.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +2 min

By Alexander TanasCHISINAU (Reuters) - Moldova's largest Orthodox church reaffirmed its link to its Russian parent church on Thursday despite dissent from priests who have denounced the association with Moscow over the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine. But parishioners are divided between two churches -- the Moldova Metropolis, subordinate to the Russian Orthodox Church, and the Metropolis of Bessarabia, which reports to the Romanian church. "The clergy and the people remain faithful to the Orthodox Church of Moldova and Metropolitan Vladimir," Bishop Ioan of theRussia-linked church said in a statement. "There will be no discussion of linking the Molodvan Orthodox Church to the Romanian Patriarchate." A group of priests in the majority Russian-linked church had asked Vladimir this week to switch allegiance to the Romanian church.

Persons: Alexander Tanas CHISINAU, Metropolitan Vladimir, Kirill, Bishop Ioan, Vladimir, Pavel Borsevschi, Maia Sandu, Sandu, Alexander Tanas, Ron Popeski, Sandra Maler Organizations: Orthodox Church, Metropolitan, Orthodox, of, European Union Locations: Moscow, Ukraine, Moldova Metropolis, Metropolis, Bessarabia, Romanian, Russia, Russian, of Moldova, Romanian Patriarchate, Romania, Soviet Union

A Russian Singer Who Condemned the War in Ukraine Is Back Home. the Orthodox Church Wants an ApologyThe Russian Orthodox Church has called for an apology from Russia's most renowned pop singer who returned home this week over her criticism of the war in Ukraine

Organizations: Singer Locations: Ukraine

☆ Some Ukrainians Helped the Russians. Their Neighbors Sought Revenge.
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-01 | by ( James Verini | Paolo Pellegrin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +5 min

It seemed obvious to me that some townspeople would have collaborated out of fear or the need to survive. (I could not reach any of the accused collaborators from Bilozerka or Volodymyr Saldo.) A researcher with a nonprofit government watchdog group in Bilozerka, Zelinska investigated Kozlyonkova for misusing state funds before the war. As far as I could determine, none of the accused collaborators had. The administrators of the partisan forums clearly wanted to raise suspicion — to let accused collaborators know that they were being monitored, too.

Persons: Bilozerkans, Putin, Anatoliy Korniev, John of Kronstadt, Korniev, weren’t, Oleksandr Guz, he’d, Volodymyr Saldo, Alyona Zelinska, Zelinska, Kozlyonkova, ”, ” Kozlyonkova, Andriy Koshelev, Koshelev, Oleksandr Shcherbyna, ” Shcherbyna, “, Andriy Dibrova, Alina, Bilozerka Organizations: Russian Orthodox Church, Telegram Locations: Soviet, NATO, St, Russia, Bilozerka, Soviet Union, Ukraine, Kherson

Group members said Russian occupiers are snuffing out religious and other freedoms in areas of Ukraine under Russian control. “We are eyewitnesses of Russian atrocities going on in our country,” said Metropolitan Yevstratiy Zoria, a representative of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church has declared its independence from Moscow and proclaimed its loyalty to Ukraine, but a government study commission contended that the UOC remains a structural unit of the Russian Orthodox Church. The other separate, but similarly-named church, Orthodox Church of Ukraine, was officially recognized as independent by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople in 2019, but the Russian church has disputed the legitimacy of that recognition. Zoria decried statements by Moscow Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church, who has strongly supported the war as part of a metaphysical battle against Western liberalism and has said the Russian war dead have their sins forgiven.

Persons: Ivan Rusyn, ”, Freedom, “, Bartholomew of Constantinople, you’re, Zoria, Kirill, ” Zoria, Yaakov Dov Bleich, ” Bleich, Vladimir Putin, Ukraine Akhmed Tamim Organizations: WASHINGTON, Ukrainian Evangelical Church, Ukrainian, of, U.S . Institute of Peace, Orthodox, of Ukraine, The U.S . Commission, ” UNESCO, U.S . State Department, Church, Orthodox Church of, Ecumenical, Metropolitan Zoria, Russian Orthodox Church, Administration, Lilly Endowment Inc, AP Locations: Ukrainian, United States, Ukraine, Russian, Rusyn, Christianity, The, ”, Houston, Moscow, Orthodox Church, Orthodox Church of Ukraine, of Ukraine, “, Kyiv, America, Yugoslavia

“There aren’t that many Russian Orthodox followers (anymore), but it’s part of our heritage and we do want to see it preserved." The Russian Orthodox church was established in Alaska on Kodiak Island in 1794 and missionaries spread the faith, baptizing an estimated 18,000 Alaska Natives. Experts estimate about 80 historic Orthodox churches exist across Alaska, but weather and time are taking a toll, making restoration efforts even more critical. Deacon Thomas Rivas, the episcopal secretary to the Alaska Orthodox bishop. “However, its primary function is sacred and that’s important to all of us, even those of us that are not Russian Orthodox.”

Persons: Romanov, Nicholas Church, ”, Charlene Shaginaw, “, Aaron Leggett, Peter the Great, Vitus Bering, Bering, baptizing, Richard Nixon, Deacon Thomas Rivas, Leggett, Gina Ondola, Rivas, Romanov czars, Jobe Bernier Organizations: Alaska Natives, National Park Service, Church, National Register of Historic Places, Mission Society Locations: EKLUTNA, Alaska, Alaska's, Anchorage, Eklutna, Eklutna’s, Russian, Danish, Russia, Unalaska, United States, U.S, Kodiak, Kenai, Sitka, ”, Cook, St, Siberia

☆ How the Putin family's 'blood sacrifice' may be driving the high Russian casualty rate in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-29 | by ( Rebecca Rommen | Julian Kossoff | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

People who study Russia say war and a glorious death are ingrained in the national psyche. The willingness of President Vladimir Putin and his generals to sacrifice thousands of soldiers in often-reckless assaults has become a blood-drenched hallmark of the war. "So in his own family, they've already paid that blood sacrifice, and he did his duty during the Cold War. "The official mantra of the Russian military is John 15:13, from the Bible," Carleton said. In Putin recruiting soldiers from villages in remote parts of Russia and among its non-Russian ethnic groups, Putin can avoid the perception of high casualty rates.

Persons: —, Vladimir Putin, Putin, Gregory Carleton, Carleton, they've, Jaroslava Barbieri, Kremlin, Barbieri, Ben Soodavar, Kirill Organizations: Service, Avdiivka, UK Ministry of Defence, Tufts University, Birmingham University, Ukraine's Military Intelligence, King's College London, Nazi, Reuters, Russian Orthodox Church Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Russian, Germans, Kyiv, Nazi Germany, Ukrainian, Donetsk, Moscow, Donbas

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — They were banned under Soviet dictator Josef Stalin but commonplace under later Kremlin leaders. Now, after less than a century, official attitudes about abortion in Russia are changing once again. Although abortion is still legal and widely available, new restrictions are being considered as President Vladimir Putin takes an increasingly socially conservative turn and seeks to reverse Russia's declining population. In 2012, the number of “social reasons” for allowing abortion between weeks 12 and 22 was cut to just in the case of rape. He also moved to restrict abortion pills, which are approved to be taken to end a pregnancy in the first 10 weeks.

Persons: —, Josef Stalin, Vladimir Putin, ”, Lina Zharin, we’re, Michele Rivkin, natalist ”, Rivkin, Fish, Mikhail Gorbachev's, Boris Yeltsin, Lyubov, ” Rivkin, Tatyana Golikova, Mikhail Murashko Organizations: Kremlin, Orthodox Church, University of North, Abortion, Conservative, Russian Association of Population, Health, Russian Association for Population, Development, Health Ministry Locations: TALLINN, Estonia, Russia, Kaliningrad, University of North Carolina, Chapel, —

Last year's U.S. Supreme Court decision rescinding a five-decade-old right to abortion has reshaped American abortion policy, shifting power to states. Sales of abortion pills in 2022 were up 60%, according to Nikolay Bespalov, development director of the RNC Pharma analytical company. A recent Health Ministry decree restricted circulation of abortion pills, used to terminate pregnancies in the first trimester. Regional authorities have tried to get private clinics to stop offering abortions, with varying success. In Tatarstan, about a third of all private clinics no longer provide them, officials said.

Persons: heartened Dasha, Vladimir Putin, Yakovleva, ”, Michele Rivkin, rescinding, Putin, Mikhail Murashko, Nikolay Bespalov, Yekaterina Hivrich, Irina Fainman, Fainman, Pyotr Tolstoy, Irina Volynets, Lina Zharin, ” Natalya Moskvitina, Moskvitina, Olga Mindolina, Mindolina, Anastasia, “, Lyubov Organizations: Associated Press, Nationwide, Health Ministry, University of North, Supreme, Russian Orthodox Church, Health, AP, Authorities, Lahta Clinic, Conservative, Women Locations: TALLINN, Estonia, Kaliningrad, Russia, U.S, University of North Carolina, Last, Soviet Union, ” State, Ukraine, St . Petersburg, Karelia, Tatarstan, mulling, Chelyabinsk, Mordovia, Voronezh

Kyiv CNN —Over the last week, a secret delivery of American weapons and a cross-river raid have injected much-needed energy into Ukraine’s largely stalled counteroffensive. In the east, Ukrainians claim to have inflicted massive losses on Russian forces trying to encircle an embattled city. Russian forces have launched waves of attacks repelled by the Ukrainian troops who are heavily entrenched in the area. Smoke rises above the area of the front line town of Avdiivka on October 18, 2023, amid the ongoing Russian military action in Ukraine. Stringer/AFP/Getty ImagesAvdiivka is no stranger to Russian assaults and has been on the front line of the conflict in eastern Ukraine since 2014.

Persons: Valerii Zaluzhnyi, “, It’s, John Hamilton, Volodymyr Zelensky, Joe Biden, Zelensky, Stringer, WarGonzo, Mykola Miakshykov, UOC, ” Organizations: CNN, US Army Tactical Missile, Armed Forces of, ”, Army Tactical Missile, White, US Army, Battles, Analysts, Getty, Kremlin, Popular, Ukrainian, Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan, Zelensky Locations: Kyiv, Berdiansk, Azov, Luhansk, Ukraine, Armed Forces of Ukraine, New Mexico, Moscow, Avdiivka, Donetsk, Russia, AFP, Kherson, Dnipro, Russian, Popular Russian, Krynky, Poyma, Kherson ., Obukhivka, Dnipropetrovsk Region, Ukrainian

Critics say the move is a part of a sustained effort to indoctrinate school children and stifle any independent thinking. Russian President Vladimir Putin has always maintained that Moscow’s unprovoked aggression against Ukraine is an effort to liberate the country from a “Nazi regime” and Western influence. No critical thinking allowedMany countries introduce school children to patriotic ideas and civic values. According to independent human rights monitor OVD-Info, there have been almost 20,000 people detained for protesting against the war in Russia. This complete crackdown on freedom of speech means there isn’t a force in Russia that can counteract school propaganda.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Sergey Kravtsov, ” Kravtsov, Katerina Tertytchnaya, “ There’s, ”, Putin, Yuri Kadobnov, Sergey Lavrov, Kirill, ” Ian Garner, ” Tertytchnaya, ” Garner, Garner Organizations: CNN, country’s Ministry of Education, Nazi, Russian, Russian Federation, RIA Novosti, University College London, Ministry of Education, Schools, Getty, Kremlin, University of Chicago’s, Political, Students Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Crimea, Moscow, AFP, Russian, France, Russians, China

CNN —Ukraine has passed legislation moving its official Christmas holiday to December 25, further distancing itself from the traditions of the Putin-aligned Russian Orthodox Church, which celebrates the holiday on January 7. A branch of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine allowed its churches to celebrate Christmas on December 25 last year. Ukraine’s main Greek Catholic church said in February it was moving to a new calendar to celebrate Christmas on December 25 as well. In December, the Ukrainian government launched a poll asking citizens whether the date for Christmas should be moved to December 25. They added that they celebrated Christmas on December 25 last year and felt they would “quickly adapt.”“Ukraine should be a civilized European country,” Alla said.

Persons: Putin, Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine “, “, Kirill, Alla, Oksana, ” Alla, ” Vitalina, Pavlo, ” Pavlo, Tetyana Organizations: CNN, Church, ”, Orthodox, of, Catholic, Ukrainian Locations: Ukraine, ” Ukraine, Russia, Crimea, Donbas, Moscow, Christianity, of Ukraine, Ukraine’s, Ukrainian, Zaporizhzhia, Lviv, Kyiv, Europe

☆ Britain warns Russia may start targeting civilian ships
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Michelle Nichols | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

UNITED NATIONS, July 25 (Reuters) - Britain has information indicating the Russian military may move beyond attacks on Ukrainian grain facilities to target civilian shipping in the Black Sea, Britain's U.N. "We agree with the U.S. assessment that this is a coordinated effort to justify and lay blame on Ukraine for any attacks against civilian ships in the Black Sea," Woodward told reporters. The White House gave similar warnings last week about possible attacks on civilian ships and sea mines. Russian President Vladimir Putin is due to host African leaders in St. Petersburg this week and has promised free Russian grain "to replace Ukrainian grain." Moscow had complained that not enough Ukrainian grain went to poor countries under the Black Sea export deal.

Persons: U.N, Barbara Woodward, Rishi Sunak, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Woodward, Vladimir Putin, Putin, Michelle Nichols, Rami Ayyub, Christina Fincher Organizations: UNITED NATIONS, British, United Nations, White, . Security, Wednesday, Church, Black, Thomson Locations: Britain, Russia, Ukraine, New York, Moscow, Ukrainian, St . Petersburg, Africa

☆ Russia's attack on Odesa kills one, damages city's largest cathedral
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"Odesa: another night attack of the monsters," Oleh Kiper, governor of southern Ukraine's Odesa region, said on the Telegram messaging app. Odesa's military administration said that the Spaso-Preobrazhenskyi Cathedral of the Moscow-linked Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), was severely damaged. The Spaso-Preobrazhenskyi Cathedral, or the Transfiguration Cathedral, is Odesa's largest Orthodox church building. Ukraine has accused the UOC of maintaining links to the pro-invasion Russian Orthodox Church, which used to be its parent church but with which the UOC says it broke ties in May last year. Social media videos showed a distressed man walking inside the dark cathedral repeating, "The church is no longer .... Lord, have mercy."

Persons: Kiper, God, Gleb Garanich, Lidia Kelly, Paul Simao, Richard Chang Organizations: Sunday, Church, Odesa, Reuters, Russia, Onyx, Thomson Locations: Odesa, Ukraine's, Russia, Preobrazhenskyi, Moscow, Ukraine, Russian, Crimea, Ukrainian, Kyiv, Melbourne

☆ Russia demands release of Orthodox cleric detained in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

July 15 (Reuters) - Russia on Saturday demanded the immediate release of a senior Orthodox cleric detained in Kyiv on suspicion of inflaming religious hatred and justifying Russia's invasion of Ukraine. A Kyiv court ordered pre-trial detention on Friday for Metropolitan Pavlo, a senior figure in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church who had been under house arrest since April. Ukraine has been cracking down on the Moscow-linked Ukrainian Orthodox Church, claiming it is pro-Russian and collaborating with Moscow. Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, on Saturday appealed to Pope Francis, the head of the United Nations and other religious and political figures to show support for the detained cleric. "I urge you to pay attention to the ongoing persecution of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Ukraine and to take all possible measures to protect Metropolitan Pavlo ... from lawless persecution," Kirill said.

Persons: Pavlo, Maria Zakharova, Kirill, Pope Francis Organizations: Saturday, Kyiv, Metropolitan Pavlo, Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Russian Foreign Ministry, Church, Moscow, Russian Orthodox Church, United Nations, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Russia, Kyiv, Ukraine, Ukrainian, Russian, Moscow

☆ Papal envoy says Moscow visit focused on humanitarian issues, not peace plan
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MILAN, July 2 (Reuters) - Papal envoy Cardinal Matteo Zuppi said on Sunday his mission to Moscow on the Ukraine war was focused on humanitarian issues and had not involved any discussions of a peace plan. Pope Francis had in May asked Zuppi, head of the Italian bishops' conference, to carry out a peace mission to try to help end the war in Ukraine. There is not a peace plan, not a mediation", Zuppi told state broadcaster RAI. On the same day, a Vatican statement said the visit was "aimed at identifying humanitarian initiatives, which could open roads to peace". During his Sunday blessing, Francis called on pilgrims to keep praying for peace, "even during summer time and especially for Ukrainian people".

Persons: Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, Pope Francis, Zuppi, Vladimir Putin's, Yuri Ushakov, Kirill, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Constantinople, Francis, Gianluca Semeraro, David Holmes Organizations: MILAN, Papal, Russian Orthodox Church, RAI, Thomson Locations: Moscow, Ukraine, Russian

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