Putin is using the Russian Orthodox Church as a weapon of hybrid war – a war for hearts and minds, said Rostislav Pavlenko, a member of the parliament of Ukraine, in an interview with Espresso.

According to him, an important reason for granting the Tomos to the OCU is that “there is an urgent need for autocephaly because of the war and Russian aggression”; he also traditionally spoke about “weapons and artillery in the temples.”

“Putin is using the Russian Church as a weapon of hybrid war, a war for hearts and minds. Those who fought at the front remember very well the role of the priests of this Russian Church, who provided the premises of churches for storage of weapons, the placement of artillery in the courtyards, the blessing of weapons for the war with the Ukrainians.

We well remember the messages of hatred that sounded from many hierarchs and priests of the Russian Church, aimed at disuniting Ukrainians and reproducing Russian messages about the civil war, ”said the politician.