USCIRF Concerned by Religious Freedom Implications of Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine

Washington, DC – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today marked the one-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale military invasion of Ukraine, which has killed thousands of civilians, displaced millions, and severely damaged religious life through indiscriminate attacks on religious sites and clergy across the country. Since Russian President Vladimir Putin commenced his all-out war against Ukraine, Ukrainians have experienced appalling human rights violations, including religious freedom violations, at the hands of the Russian state.

“Since the start of the war, the Russian government has weaponized religious rhetoric and antisemitism, and abused and distorted the legacy of the Holocaust by deliberately misusing the term ‘Nazi’ to justify this war. Russian forces have furthermore attacked the foundations of religious freedom in Ukraine by destroying places of worship and brutalizing religious leaders,” said USCIRF Vice Chair Abraham Cooper. “Russia’s unprovoked, unjustified war has brought unimaginable pain and suffering to the people of Ukraine. As the U.S. government continues to lead the international community in holding Russia accountable for its war, it must—as part of that effort—continue to spotlight Russia’s flagrant violations perpetrated on the basis of religion or belief.”

Over the course of the war, Russian military forces have kidnapped, tortured, and killed religious leaders and regularly bombed or otherwise destroyed places of worship and other religious sites. In the first six months of the war, at least 20 religious figures were reported killed and another 15 kidnapped, and nearly 500 places of worship and religious facilities have reportedly been damaged, destroyed, or looted since the invasion. High-ranking Russian officials, including Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov, also have made antisemitic remarks to delegitimize Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and justify the invasion. At the same time, Russian authorities have ruthlessly crushed dissent back home, decimating the country’s remaining independent civil society and threatening religious minority communities.

“Since 2014, Russia and its proxies have suppressed the religious freedom of Ukrainian citizens in Russian-occupied Crimea and Donbas by outright banning certain religious groups, closing their houses of worship, and arresting individuals on unsubstantiated terrorism charges based on their religious identity,” said USCIRF Commissioner Sharon Kleinbaum. “Russia has effectively exported to Ukraine the religious freedom violations it has long inflicted on its own citizens at home in the form of laws criminalizing so-called ‘extremism,’ ‘undesirable organizations,’ missionary work, and other religious activity and speech. The U.S. government should impose targeted sanctions on Russian government agencies and officials for egregious violations of religious freedom.”

In its 2022 Annual Report, USCIRF recommended the U.S. Department of State redesignate Russia as a “Country of Particular Concern,” or CPC, for engaging in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom, which it did in November 2022. Last year, USCIRF warned that Russia’s invasion would lead to the oppression of Ukraine’s religious communities. USCIRF also published a Russia Backgrounder to provide further context on Russia’s religious freedom violations at home and abroad. 

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The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is an independent, bipartisan federal government entity established by the U.S. Congress to monitor, analyze, and report on religious freedom abroad. USCIRF makes foreign policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and Congress intended to deter religious persecution and promote freedom of religion and belief. To interview a Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at [email protected].