Russia’s religious soft power and the war in Ukraine

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 a key tool of foreign policy, especially in the Balkans. In the late 1800s, Catherine the Great’s so-called Greek plan embodied a Christian-…

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