Russia’s religious soft power and the war in Ukraine
Published by Al-Araby The Christianisation of Kievan Rus, an eastern Slavic state now comprising Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine, in the late 10th century signalled the historical bonding of Orthodox Christianity and Russian identity. Five centuries later following the fall of Constantinople in 1453 the marriage of Ivan III of Russia with Byzantine princess Sophia Palaiologina foreshadowed the dominant role of the emerging Russian empire across the Orthodox world. Religion became