{"id":1284417,"date":"2026-01-12T16:02:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T14:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/?p=1284417"},"modified":"2026-01-08T12:44:31","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T10:44:31","slug":"holy-war-as-propaganda-the-kremlin-s-militarization-of-religion-and-society","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/holy-war-as-propaganda-the-kremlin-s-militarization-of-religion-and-society\/","title":{"rendered":"Holy War as Propaganda: The Kremlin\u2019s Militarization of Religion and Society"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Russian leader Vladimir Putin stated during a church service that Russian troops, “on God’s instruction,” are carrying out a “holy mission” to defend the homeland in Ukraine, UATV English<\/a> reports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Center for Countering Disinformation of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council reported this on\u00a0Facebook<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As noted in the statement, Putin “celebrated Christmas together with servicemen and their families, using the church service once again to justify the war against Ukraine.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“During the Christmas service, Putin stated that Russian troops, ‘on God’s instruction,’ are carrying out a ‘holy mission’ to defend the homeland. In effect, the war was presented not as a political decision by the Kremlin, but as a sacred, God-pleasing duty,” the CCD said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Center emphasized that this is a systematic propaganda line of the Kremlin \u2014 to present aggression against Ukraine as a “holy war.” Such mixing of religion, state ideology, and the army demonstrates the total militarization of Russian society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“While throughout the world Christmas remains a holiday of peace, love, and family, Putin is turning it into an instrument of military propaganda. Instead of words about reconciliation \u2014 glorification of war; instead of family warmth \u2014 demonstrative closeness to the army. Putin’s militarized Christmas once again shows that the Kremlin is preparing Russian society for a long war,” the CCD stressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As previously reported,\u00a0Russia is preparing for further militarization of children and youth, no longer even disguising military training as social and educational initiatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read also:<\/strong> Ukraine and US Hold Third Meeting in Two Days on War-End Framework<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Russian leader Vladimir Putin stated during a church service that Russian troops, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":1254470,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,49,36415,53,36422,55,50],"tags":[76,78],"sources":[],"class_list":["post-1284417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-news-en","category-11473-news-en","category-russia-en","category-11473-news-en-3","category-ukraine-en","category-svit-en","tag-glavnoe-en","tag-homepage-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHoly War as Propaganda: The Kremlin\u2019s Militarization of Religion and Society - Freedom<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/holy-war-as-propaganda-the-kremlin-s-militarization-of-religion-and-society\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Holy War as Propaganda: The Kremlin\u2019s Militarization of Religion and Society - Freedom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Russian leader Vladimir Putin stated during a church service that Russian troops, ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/holy-war-as-propaganda-the-kremlin-s-militarization-of-religion-and-society\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Freedom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-12T14:02:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/cropped_1300x750_putin-820x473.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"820\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"473\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Danylo Shportilo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Danylo Shportilo\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/holy-war-as-propaganda-the-kremlin-s-militarization-of-religion-and-society\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/holy-war-as-propaganda-the-kremlin-s-militarization-of-religion-and-society\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Danylo Shportilo\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/f4fe8d6d08deebcdee69f6671576d2d2\"},\"headline\":\"Holy War as Propaganda: The Kremlin\u2019s Militarization of Religion and Society\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-12T14:02:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/holy-war-as-propaganda-the-kremlin-s-militarization-of-religion-and-society\/\"},\"wordCount\":266,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/holy-war-as-propaganda-the-kremlin-s-militarization-of-religion-and-society\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/cropped_1300x750_putin.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"\u0413\u043b\u0430\u0432\u043d\u043e\u0435\",\"\u041d\u0430 \u0433\u043b\u0430\u0432\u043d\u0443\u044e (\u0441\u043b\u0430\u0439\u0434\u0435\u0440)\"],\"articleSection\":[\"\u041d\u043e\u0432\u043e\u0441\u0442\u0438\",\"News\",\"Politics\",\"Russia\",\"Society\",\"Ukraine\",\"World\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/holy-war-as-propaganda-the-kremlin-s-militarization-of-religion-and-society\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/holy-war-as-propaganda-the-kremlin-s-militarization-of-religion-and-society\/\",\"name\":\"Holy War as Propaganda: The Kremlin\u2019s Militarization of Religion and Society - Freedom\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/holy-war-as-propaganda-the-kremlin-s-militarization-of-religion-and-society\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/holy-war-as-propaganda-the-kremlin-s-militarization-of-religion-and-society\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/cropped_1300x750_putin.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-12T14:02:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/f4fe8d6d08deebcdee69f6671576d2d2\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/holy-war-as-propaganda-the-kremlin-s-militarization-of-religion-and-society\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/holy-war-as-propaganda-the-kremlin-s-militarization-of-religion-and-society\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/holy-war-as-propaganda-the-kremlin-s-militarization-of-religion-and-society\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/cropped_1300x750_putin.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/cropped_1300x750_putin.jpg\",\"width\":1300,\"height\":750,\"caption\":\"Vladimir Putin. Photo: gettyimages.com\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/holy-war-as-propaganda-the-kremlin-s-militarization-of-religion-and-society\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Holy War as Propaganda: The Kremlin\u2019s Militarization of Religion and Society\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/\",\"name\":\"Freedom\",\"description\":\"UATV - UA|TV - International Broadcasting Multimedia Platform of Ukraine\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/f4fe8d6d08deebcdee69f6671576d2d2\",\"name\":\"Danylo Shportilo\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dfea04f04995a5257694c4ef7149b332b4103ac47f1c95f912cddd7a1e2ef4e7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dfea04f04995a5257694c4ef7149b332b4103ac47f1c95f912cddd7a1e2ef4e7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dfea04f04995a5257694c4ef7149b332b4103ac47f1c95f912cddd7a1e2ef4e7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Danylo Shportilo\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/author\/d-shportilo\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Holy War as Propaganda: The Kremlin\u2019s Militarization of Religion and Society - Freedom","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/holy-war-as-propaganda-the-kremlin-s-militarization-of-religion-and-society\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Holy War as Propaganda: The Kremlin\u2019s Militarization of Religion and Society - Freedom","og_description":"Russian leader Vladimir Putin stated during a church service that Russian troops, ...","og_url":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/holy-war-as-propaganda-the-kremlin-s-militarization-of-religion-and-society\/","og_site_name":"Freedom","article_published_time":"2026-01-12T14:02:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":820,"height":473,"url":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/cropped_1300x750_putin-820x473.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Danylo Shportilo","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Danylo Shportilo","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/holy-war-as-propaganda-the-kremlin-s-militarization-of-religion-and-society\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/holy-war-as-propaganda-the-kremlin-s-militarization-of-religion-and-society\/"},"author":{"name":"Danylo Shportilo","@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/f4fe8d6d08deebcdee69f6671576d2d2"},"headline":"Holy War as Propaganda: The Kremlin\u2019s Militarization of Religion and Society","datePublished":"2026-01-12T14:02:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/holy-war-as-propaganda-the-kremlin-s-militarization-of-religion-and-society\/"},"wordCount":266,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/holy-war-as-propaganda-the-kremlin-s-militarization-of-religion-and-society\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/cropped_1300x750_putin.jpg","keywords":["\u0413\u043b\u0430\u0432\u043d\u043e\u0435","\u041d\u0430 \u0433\u043b\u0430\u0432\u043d\u0443\u044e (\u0441\u043b\u0430\u0439\u0434\u0435\u0440)"],"articleSection":["\u041d\u043e\u0432\u043e\u0441\u0442\u0438","News","Politics","Russia","Society","Ukraine","World"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/holy-war-as-propaganda-the-kremlin-s-militarization-of-religion-and-society\/","url":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/holy-war-as-propaganda-the-kremlin-s-militarization-of-religion-and-society\/","name":"Holy War as Propaganda: The Kremlin\u2019s Militarization of Religion and Society - Freedom","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/holy-war-as-propaganda-the-kremlin-s-militarization-of-religion-and-society\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/holy-war-as-propaganda-the-kremlin-s-militarization-of-religion-and-society\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/cropped_1300x750_putin.jpg","datePublished":"2026-01-12T14:02:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/f4fe8d6d08deebcdee69f6671576d2d2"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/holy-war-as-propaganda-the-kremlin-s-militarization-of-religion-and-society\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/holy-war-as-propaganda-the-kremlin-s-militarization-of-religion-and-society\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/holy-war-as-propaganda-the-kremlin-s-militarization-of-religion-and-society\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/cropped_1300x750_putin.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/cropped_1300x750_putin.jpg","width":1300,"height":750,"caption":"Vladimir Putin. Photo: gettyimages.com"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/holy-war-as-propaganda-the-kremlin-s-militarization-of-religion-and-society\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Holy War as Propaganda: The Kremlin\u2019s Militarization of Religion and Society"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/","name":"Freedom","description":"UATV - UA|TV - International Broadcasting Multimedia Platform of Ukraine","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/f4fe8d6d08deebcdee69f6671576d2d2","name":"Danylo Shportilo","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dfea04f04995a5257694c4ef7149b332b4103ac47f1c95f912cddd7a1e2ef4e7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dfea04f04995a5257694c4ef7149b332b4103ac47f1c95f912cddd7a1e2ef4e7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dfea04f04995a5257694c4ef7149b332b4103ac47f1c95f912cddd7a1e2ef4e7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Danylo Shportilo"},"url":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/author\/d-shportilo\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1284417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1284417"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1284417\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1284419,"href":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1284417\/revisions\/1284419"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1254470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1284417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1284417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1284417"},{"taxonomy":"sources","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sources?post=1284417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}