Since the start of the war against Ukraine, Russian authorities have secured at least 35 convictions against religious figures.

These figures are cited by Sergey Chapnin in the book “Religious Communities Under Pressure: Documenting Religious Persecution in Russia in 2022–2026,” reports Agentstvo.

According to Chapnin’s calculations, since the start of the war, the authorities have secured at least 35 convictions against religious figures and believers, while at least three more criminal cases were under investigation as of June 2026. At least 30 administrative cases have been recorded for “discrediting” the army. Thirteen religious figures, activists, and organizations have been designated as “foreign agents,” five people have been placed on “terrorist” lists, and 10 organizations have been declared “undesirable.”

It is also reported that at least 38 priests have faced church disciplinary measures for their anti-war positions. Of these, 17 were defrocked, 14 were banned from performing ministry, and 7 retired from active service.

It was previously reported that the Russian Orthodox Church coordinates with the FSB in the persecution of anti-war clergy. Evidence of this was published by religious scholar and former editor of the Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate Sergey Chapnin in the book “Religious Communities Under Pressure: Documenting Religious Persecution in Russia in 2022–2026.”

As LF reported, pressure on religious communities in Russia has intensified since February 2022. Priests have been defrocked for praying for peace, ecclesiastical and secular courts have complemented each other, and state and church structures have jointly punished those who refuse to justify the war.

According to Regina Elsner, a researcher of Eastern Christianity and ecumenism at the University of Münster and a doctor of theology, the Russian Orthodox Church has become one of the key institutions of mobilization and propaganda.

Earlier, we reported that Pope Leo XIV and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I condemned attempts to use religion to justify violence.