Dr Serhii Shumylo
Abstracts of Dr Serhii Shumylo presentation at the international conference ‘Limits of Restrictions: Religious Minorities in Europe and Asia’, which was held on 30 April 2025 at the University of Exeter (Exeter, UK). The report uses data from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, the Institute for Religious Freedom, the International Alliance for Freedom of Religion and Belief (Article 18 Alliance – IRFBA), the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), and others.
In order to justify and ‘sacralise’ Russia’s war against Ukraine, the Moscow Patriarchate is introducing the quasi-religious imperial ideology of the ‘Russian world’, in which this war is presented as ‘sacred’ and as a ‘metaphysical’ confrontation of the Orthodox ‘Holy Rus’ with the ‘satanic West’[1]. However, paradoxically, under the guise of such artificial slogans, Russian troops, blessed by Moscow Patriarch Kirill, commit the most crimes against the Christian, in particular the Orthodox population of Ukraine.
According to the International Alliance for Freedom of Religion and Belief (Article 18 Alliance – IRFBA), from February 2022 to 2025, more than 640 religious buildings, including 596 Christian churches, were damaged or destroyed as a result of the Russian army’s hostilities in Ukraine[2]. It is common practice for the Russian army to seize religious buildings and use them as military bases or to cover firing positions, which leads to even greater destruction of religious sites[3]. There are many cases of Christian (including Protestant) and other churches in the occupied territories being confiscated and converted to administrative use.
According to preliminary data from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Russian occupation forces are illegally holding more than 30 religious figures in captivity[4].
To date, it has been established that Russian troops have killed 67 representatives of the clergy of various denominations in Ukraine[5]. According to the Institute for Religious Freedom, 18 of them belonged to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), 8 to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), 12 to Baptists, 8 to Pentecostals, and 2 to Adventists[6].
Thus, in February 2024, Russian troops abducted and tortured to death the priest of the OCU, Fr Stepan Podolchak[7]. Also among the dead are the priests of the OCU, Fr Rostyslav Dudarenko and Fr Maxim Kozachyna[8]. The latter was dragged out of the car by the Russian military and shot, despite the fact that he was wearing religious clothes[9]. Priest Serhii Chudynovych from the Kherson region was abducted, taken from his church. Later he spoke of torture, threats of rape and reprisals against his family. The priest of Berdiansk, Oleg Nikolayev, was detained and taken to an unknown destination. Priest Andriy Chuy and Archimandrite Christopher (Khrymli) were arrested, illegally detained and eventually deported. Nothing is known about the fate of many OCU priests abducted by the Russian occupation authorities[10].
In August 2024, a court sentenced UOC priest Konstantin Maksimov to 14 years on trumped-up charges of espionage after he refused to transfer his parish to the Russian Orthodox Church[11]. Arbitrary arrest, torture and illegal detention for 262 days was also experienced by UOC priest Igor Novosilsky, who disobeyed the demands of the occupation authorities in the Kherson region to abandon the Ukrainian language and directly submit to the Russian Orthodox Church[12].
Two Ukrainian Greek Catholic priests, Ivan Levytskyi and Bohdan Geleta, who served in the Zaporizhzhia region, were held in Russian captivity for almost two years. They were released only in June 2024 as part of a prisoner of war exchange[13].
As of February 2025, at least 14 Jehovah’s Witnesses were imprisoned in Crimea. On 14 January 2025, two followers of this religious organisation were sentenced to six years in prison in Sevastopol on trumped-up charges[14].
In the temporarily occupied territories, the Russian authorities systematically persecute all religious organisations that are not subordinate to the Moscow Patriarchate. In particular, the occupation authorities have completely destroyed the parishes of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), which is independent of the Russian Orthodox Church. Out of 45 parishes of the OCU in Crimea, by 2024, not a single one remained[15]. In June 2024, they demolished the last church of the OCU in Crimea[16]. In other occupied regions, the churches taken from the OCU were either forcibly transferred to the ROC or used for the needs of the occupation authorities. For example, a morgue was placed in the OCU church in the Novoazovsk district[17].
The activities of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church have also been eliminated in the occupied territories. Of the 49 parishes of the UGCC, not a single one remains. Of the 15 parishes of the Roman Catholic Church, only one remains[18].
In addition, the occupation authorities forcibly annexed eight dioceses of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – more than 1,600 parishes and 23 monasteries – to the Russian Orthodox Church[19]. Russian security forces do not trust even the loyal priests of the UOC, demanding that they directly obey Moscow[20].
From the end of 2023, the occupation administrations began to put pressure on the leaders of all Ukrainian religious communities without exception (Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, and even Muslim and Jewish) to join Russian religious associations and submit to religious centres in the Russian Federation.
In general, the number of religious communities in the occupied territories has more than halved during the war. For example, the number of parishes of the UOC-MP, which were later incorporated into the Russian Orthodox Church, decreased by 1.4 times, and the number of Protestant communities by 3.6 times[21].
The communities of unregistered Baptists from the International Union of Baptist Churches are under particular pressure[22]. Refusal to register with the state is one of the principles of the religious communities of this association, which seek to avoid any state interference in their internal affairs.
Crimean Muslims, in particular representatives of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, are subjected to severe persecution, and joint prayer is used as a pretext for raids and repression[23]. The occupation authorities conduct regular searches in the homes of Crimean Tatars and religious communities. According to the human rights organisation Memorial, ‘at least 352 people were imprisoned, prosecuted or under investigation for alleged involvement in Hizb ut-Tahrir’[24]. Of these, 131 were sentenced to 10 to 14 years in prison, and 119 were sentenced to 15 years or more[25]. USCIRF notes that Muslim prisoners testify that they have been subjected to torture, medical negligence, confiscation of religious materials, prohibition of prayer, and other ill-treatment[26].
Since the summer of 2022, the Russian occupation authorities in the occupied Ukrainian territories have resorted to open repression of religious minorities[27]. The Russian military began raiding houses of worship, often in the middle of services, during which they conducted searches, compiled lists of church members present, and collected their personal and biometric data, which they used for further surveillance. After such raids, believers were prohibited from conducting any activity in the premises of their religious community. Often, the occupation authorities placed their administrative institutions, bases for the Russian military, and even branches of the Kremlin’s United Russia political party in the seized church buildings[28].
According to the Institute for Religious Freedom, between autumn 2022 and 2024, almost all churches that did not belong to the Moscow Patriarchate in the occupied territory were deprived of the right to hold services[29].
In addition to physically restricting the access of believers to their houses of worship, the occupation authorities confiscated registration documents for the religious community, documents of ownership of the church building and land, seals, accounting and other documents, making it impossible to conduct the activities of a legal entity. There were also cases of cancellation of state registration or requirements to re-register a religious community in accordance with Russian occupation legislation, which did not guarantee the preservation of the status of a legal entity[30].
Having intensified repressions against Ukrainian religious leaders of various denominations in the occupied territories, they were often artificially accused of terrorism and organising armed resistance. Priests and pastors were also falsely accused of collaborating with the Security Service of Ukraine, possessing weapons, transporting explosives, and calling for an armed uprising against the occupying authorities. In addition to such slander, virtually all undesirable religious communities are accused of ‘ties with the West’, espionage and other subversive activities ‘under the guidance of Western special services’[31].
False reports of anti-Russian or extremist activities are used as a means of combating disloyal religious communities. Planting banned literature during searches is particularly common. This happened to a Protestant pastor in the Luhansk region, which became the formal basis for his subsequent accusation of allegedly creating an extremist organisation[32]. Another case also occurred in the Luhansk region, where the persecution of Evangelical Christians Baptists (ECB) began on the basis of a falsified letter allegedly from a religious centre in Kyiv to Luhansk believers, which contained the following message: ‘Hold on, you will be released soon!’. An analysis of this letter showed that it was a provocation by the Russian authorities to recognise the All-Ukrainian Union of Baptist Churches as an extremist organisation. As a result, the occupation authorities in Luhansk region banned the activities of this Ukrainian religious centre and began to persecute Baptists, accusing them of extremism without any evidence[33].
Another reason for the occupation authorities’ infringement of religious freedom was the use of the Ukrainian language during worship. This primarily concerned the communities of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, which use only the Ukrainian language during the liturgy. But there are also many such cases involving Protestant figures.
Pressure is also exerted on priests in the occupied territories through their families, children and relatives. There is a known case of a priest’s son being abducted by the Russian military and kept in a cell for weeks to put pressure on his father’s religious activities[34].
Falsified ‘evidence’ is enough to arrest priests and their families and subject them to severe torture.
There are frequent cases of torture of Ukrainian religious leaders of various denominations in Russian captivity. They are threatened with death, humiliation, deprived of food and access to toilets, and their families are not told where they are being held. Among the most brutal tortures committed by the Russian military against religious leaders are mock executions, threats of rape, electric shocks, hours-long group beatings, etc[35].
The Russian authorities in the occupied territories of Ukraine are demanding that Ukrainian churches and religious communities break canonical ties with their religious centres in Ukraine and directly submit to Russian religious centres. Such centres in Russia are usually controlled by the Russian authorities and special services (FSB) and are used to support the Putin regime inside Russia and its war against Ukraine. They are instruments of propaganda and promotion of the Russian World ideology and Ukrainophobia[36]. By using such centres, Russian special services, primarily the FSB, can more easily control local communities in the occupied territories of Ukraine, influence their members, engage them in spreading propaganda, and use them to establish the Putin regime[37].
The Russian occupation authorities subject all dissenting religious leaders and priests to brutal repression, torture and murder, or force them to flee. This is not just a violation of religious freedom, but a deliberate spiritual cleansing of the occupied territories, aimed at their violent denationalisation and destruction of Ukrainian identity.
Dr Serhii Shumylo, Ph.D. in History, ThDr.,
Director of the International Institute of the Athonite Legacy, Expert of the Institute for Religious Freedom, Visiting Research Fellow in the Department of Classics, Ancient History, Religion and Theology, University of Exeter (UK), Research Fellow of the Institute of History of Ukraine, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
[1] Shumylo, S. “Ordinary Fascism”, or The Russian World of Patriarch Kirill // The Theel, 10 April 2024. URL: https://wheeljournal.com/2024-4-10-serhii-shumylo-ordinary-fascism-or-the-russian-world-of-patriarch-kirill/
[2] Russia Must Be Held Accountable for Crimes Against Ukrainian Religious Communities – Statement by the Head of Article 18 Alliance // Institute for Religious Freedom. URL: https://irf.in.ua/p/163
[3] Віра під вогнем: досліджуючи релігійну свободу в умовах війни в Україні / Упоряд.: Брицин М., Васін М. Франклін, Теннессі, США: Місія Євразія, 2023. С. 10.
[4] Statement of the MFA of Ukraine regarding the atrocities and persecution by the Russian Federation against clergy, religious communities, and believers in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine // URL: https://mfa.gov.ua/en/news/zayava-mzs-shchodo-zvirstv-i-gonin-rosijskoyi-federaciyi-proti-duhovenstva-religijnih-gromad-ta-viryan-na-timchasovo-okupovanih-teritoriyah-ukrayini
[5] Statement of the MFA of Ukraine regarding the atrocities and persecution by the Russian Federation against clergy, religious communities, and believers in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine // URL: https://mfa.gov.ua/en/news/zayava-mzs-shchodo-zvirstv-i-gonin-rosijskoyi-federaciyi-proti-duhovenstva-religijnih-gromad-ta-viryan-na-timchasovo-okupovanih-teritoriyah-ukrayini
[6] Віра під російським терором: Аналіз релігійної ситуації в Україні / Упоряд.: Брицин М., Васін М. Франклін, Теннессі, США: Місія Євразія. – Київ: О. В. Пугач, 2025. С. 24.
[7] USCIRF 2025 Report: Widespread religious freedom violations reported in Russian-occupied Ukraine // Religious Information Service of Ukraine (RISU). URL: https://risu.ua/en/uscirf-2025-report-widespread-religious-freedom-violations-reported-in-russian-occupied-ukraine_n155170 ; Віра під російським терором: Аналіз релігійної ситуації в Україні / Упоряд.: Брицин М., Васін М. Франклін, Теннессі, США: Місія Євразія. – Київ: О. В. Пугач, 2025. С. 25.
[8] Віра під російським терором: Аналіз релігійної ситуації в Україні / Упоряд.: Брицин М., Васін М. Франклін, Теннессі, США: Місія Євразія. – Київ: О. В. Пугач, 2025. С. 24.
[9] Віра під російським терором: Аналіз релігійної ситуації в Україні / Упоряд.: Брицин М., Васін М. Франклін, Теннессі, США: Місія Євразія. – Київ: О. В. Пугач, 2025. С. 24.
[10] Ehrlich M. The Subjugation of Faith. How Religion Became a Hostage of the “Russian World” in the Occupied Territories of Ukraine // Public Orthodoxy. URL: https://publicorthodoxy.org/2025/04/14/the-subjugation-of-faith/
[11] Statement of the MFA of Ukraine regarding the atrocities and persecution by the Russian Federation against clergy, religious communities, and believers in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine // URL: https://mfa.gov.ua/en/news/zayava-mzs-shchodo-zvirstv-i-gonin-rosijskoyi-federaciyi-proti-duhovenstva-religijnih-gromad-ta-viryan-na-timchasovo-okupovanih-teritoriyah-ukrayini
[12] Віра під російським терором: Аналіз релігійної ситуації в Україні / Упоряд.: Брицин М., Васін М. Франклін, Теннессі, США: Місія Євразія. – Київ: О. В. Пугач, 2025. С. 12.
[13] Віра під вогнем: досліджуючи релігійну свободу в умовах війни в Україні / Упоряд.: Брицин М., Васін М. Франклін, Теннессі, США: Місія Євразія, 2023. С. 23.
[14] Statement of the MFA of Ukraine regarding the atrocities and persecution by the Russian Federation against clergy, religious communities, and believers in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine // URL: https://mfa.gov.ua/en/news/zayava-mzs-shchodo-zvirstv-i-gonin-rosijskoyi-federaciyi-proti-duhovenstva-religijnih-gromad-ta-viryan-na-timchasovo-okupovanih-teritoriyah-ukrayini
[15] Віра під російським терором: Аналіз релігійної ситуації в Україні / Упоряд.: Брицин М., Васін М. Франклін, Теннессі, США: Місія Євразія. – Київ: О. В. Пугач, 2025. С. 16.
[16] Russia Must Be Held Accountable for Crimes Against Ukrainian Religious Communities – Statement by the Head of Article 18 Alliance // Institute for Religious Freedom. URL: https://irf.in.ua/p/163
[17] Ehrlich M. The Subjugation of Faith. How Religion Became a Hostage of the “Russian World” in the Occupied Territories of Ukraine // Public Orthodoxy. URL: https://publicorthodoxy.org/2025/04/14/the-subjugation-of-faith/
[18] UGCC and OCU parishes completely destroyed in Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine // Locked Faith. URL: https://lockedfaith.org/en/p/262 ; Ehrlich M. The Subjugation of Faith. How Religion Became a Hostage of the “Russian World” in the Occupied Territories of Ukraine // Public Orthodoxy. URL: https://publicorthodoxy.org/2025/04/14/the-subjugation-of-faith/
[19] Statement of the MFA of Ukraine regarding the atrocities and persecution by the Russian Federation against clergy, religious communities, and believers in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine // URL: https://mfa.gov.ua/en/news/zayava-mzs-shchodo-zvirstv-i-gonin-rosijskoyi-federaciyi-proti-duhovenstva-religijnih-gromad-ta-viryan-na-timchasovo-okupovanih-teritoriyah-ukrayini
[20] Віра під російським терором: Аналіз релігійної ситуації в Україні / Упоряд.: Брицин М., Васін М. Франклін, Теннессі, США: Місія Євразія. – Київ: О. В. Пугач, 2025. С. 28.
[21] UGCC and OCU parishes completely destroyed in Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine // Locked Faith. URL: https://lockedfaith.org/en/p/262 ; Ehrlich M. The Subjugation of Faith. How Religion Became a Hostage of the “Russian World” in the Occupied Territories of Ukraine // URL: https://publicorthodoxy.org/2025/04/14/the-subjugation-of-faith/
[22] Віра під російським терором: Аналіз релігійної ситуації в Україні / Упоряд.: Брицин М., Васін М. Франклін, Теннессі, США: Місія Євразія. – Київ: О. В. Пугач, 2025. С. 28.
[23] Russia Must Be Held Accountable for Crimes Against Ukrainian Religious Communities – Statement by the Head of Article 18 Alliance // Institute for Religious Freedom. URL: https://irf.in.ua/p/163
[24] USCIRF 2025 Report: Widespread religious freedom violations reported in Russian-occupied Ukraine // Religious Information Service of Ukraine (RISU). URL: https://risu.ua/en/uscirf-2025-report-widespread-religious-freedom-violations-reported-in-russian-occupied-ukraine_n155170
[25] USCIRF 2025 Report: Widespread religious freedom violations reported in Russian-occupied Ukraine // Religious Information Service of Ukraine (RISU). URL: https://risu.ua/en/uscirf-2025-report-widespread-religious-freedom-violations-reported-in-russian-occupied-ukraine_n155170
[26] USCIRF 2025 Report: Widespread religious freedom violations reported in Russian-occupied Ukraine // Religious Information Service of Ukraine (RISU). URL: https://risu.ua/en/uscirf-2025-report-widespread-religious-freedom-violations-reported-in-russian-occupied-ukraine_n155170
[27] Віра під вогнем: досліджуючи релігійну свободу в умовах війни в Україні / Упоряд.: Брицин М., Васін М. Франклін, Теннессі, США: Місія Євразія, 2023. С. 20.
[28] Віра під вогнем: досліджуючи релігійну свободу в умовах війни в Україні / Упоряд.: Брицин М., Васін М. Франклін, Теннессі, США: Місія Євразія, 2023. С. 20.
[29] Віра під вогнем: досліджуючи релігійну свободу в умовах війни в Україні / Упоряд.: Брицин М., Васін М. Франклін, Теннессі, США: Місія Євразія, 2023. С. 20.
[30] Віра під вогнем: досліджуючи релігійну свободу в умовах війни в Україні / Упоряд.: Брицин М., Васін М. Франклін, Теннессі, США: Місія Євразія, 2023. С. 20.
[31] Віра під вогнем: досліджуючи релігійну свободу в умовах війни в Україні / Упоряд.: Брицин М., Васін М. Франклін, Теннессі, США: Місія Євразія, 2023. С. 16.
[32] Віра під російським терором: Аналіз релігійної ситуації в Україні // Упоряд.: Брицин М., Васін М. Франклін, Теннессі, США: Місія Євразія. – Київ: О. В. Пугач, 2025. С. 8–9.
[33] Віра під російським терором: Аналіз релігійної ситуації в Україні / Упоряд.: Брицин М., Васін М. Франклін, Теннессі, США: Місія Євразія. – Київ: О. В. Пугач, 2025. С. 9.
[34] Віра під вогнем: досліджуючи релігійну свободу в умовах війни в Україні / Упоряд.: Брицин М., Васін М. Франклін, Теннессі, США: Місія Євразія, 2023. С. 23.
[35] Віра під вогнем: досліджуючи релігійну свободу в умовах війни в Україні / Упоряд.: Брицин М., Васін М. Франклін, Теннессі, США: Місія Євразія, 2023. С. 24.
[36] Shumylo, S. “Ordinary Fascism”, or The Russian World of Patriarch Kirill // The Theel, 10 April 2024. URL: https://wheeljournal.com/2024-4-10-serhii-shumylo-ordinary-fascism-or-the-russian-world-of-patriarch-kirill/
[37] Віра під російським терором: Аналіз релігійної ситуації в Україні / Упоряд.: Брицин М., Васін М. Франклін, Теннессі, США: Місія Євразія. – Київ: О. В. Пугач, 2025. С. 34–35.
