The Russian Orthodox Church appears to back President Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, calling it a "Holy War."
The ominous declaration came after a gathering of the World Russian People's Council where religious, political, and cultural figures met at the site of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, an important religious and cultural focal point for Russians.
The declaration came during a congress of the World Russian People's Council in which religious, political, and cultural figures in the country met at the site of Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior, a focal point for the Orthodox faith in Russia.
Russian Orthodox Church head Patriarch Kirill leads the council and is an ally of Putin. He had been criticized for not providing a religious justification for the war and failing to condemn the killing of innocents in Ukraine.
Kirill said Ukraine and Belarus were part of Russian lands and called the Ukrainians defending themselves against the invasion "forces of evil," spinning the war as a battle for the future of Christianity. That was two years ago.
"From a spiritual and moral point of view, the special military operation is a Holy War, in which Russia and its people, are defending the single spiritual space of Holy Russia," the document released on Wednesday said under the heading "special military operation."
It further stated that the Russians were "protecting the world from the onslaught of globalism and the victory of the West, which has fallen into Satanism.
"Following the war, the entire territory of modern Ukraine should enter the zone of Russia's exclusive influence," it said.
"The possibility of the existence of a Russophobic political regime hostile to Russia and its people on this territory, as well as a political regime controlled from an external center hostile to Russia, should be completely excluded," it added.
