The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) outside Russia performs functions that go far beyond ordinary religious ministry through its involvement in spreading propaganda, justifying aggression, and assisting the espionage activities of Russian special services. Its European network comprises more than 600 centres and includes churches, communities, and monasteries that may have different statuses and ecclesiastical jurisdictions, yet are ideologically and canonically subordinate to Moscow. The ROC is as much an instrument of the Kremlin’s hybrid influence as the armed forces, since under the cover of religious activity it functions as a tool of “soft power,” as Russian church officials and propagandists themselves have repeatedly stated.
In a review by the European Parliamentary Research Service published in May 2022, the ROC was identified as one of the instruments of the Kremlin’s aggressive foreign policy. The authors of the document noted that the Russian authorities use the defence of “traditional values” and ties with Orthodox churches to strengthen their influence abroad. The ROC’s activities in Europe have repeatedly been accompanied by high-profile scandals and exposures of it as a front for the Kremlin’s illegal and espionage activities. According to European intelligence services, church parishes and real estate in some EU countries have served as hubs for gathering intelligence near NATO facilities and for conducting propaganda and espionage.
In August 2024, Czech special services exposed and expelled from the country the head of the ROC parish in Karlovy Vary, Nikolai Lyshcheniuk, who had been helping Russian special services form a network of Kremlin influence under the cover of the church. As the Czech publication Deník N reported at the time, the National Centre Against Organised Crime (NCOZ) and the BIS intelligence service deemed the priest’s activities a threat to national security, resulting in the revocation of his residence permit and deportation from the EU. According to their data, the clergyman “created an influential structure, with the support of the Russian authorities, aimed at supporting separatist tendencies in the countries of the European Union.”
In late 2024, Politico and the television channel FRANCE 24 released journalistic investigations into the construction of an ROC church in the Swedish city of Västerås in the immediate vicinity of a military airfield and critical infrastructure facilities. As the Swedish Security Service SÄPO reported, the “religious mission” was financed with the support of the Russian state corporation Rosatom and served as a foothold for collecting data on NATO military exercises and logistics, since the geographical location of the church made this possible. As a result, the Swedish government was forced to completely cut off state funding for the community, thereby confirming that the construction of churches near defence zones was an element of a planned hybrid operation by the Kremlin.
In December 2025, the Swedish Orthodox Church of the Ecumenical Patriarchate warned its parishes against cooperating with the St. Elisabeth Convent in Belarus, because, according to the news agency TVP World, this monastery had been exposed for aggregating funds collected through European ROC parishes for the needs of the Russian occupation army in Ukraine. Orthodox nuns who travelled around Europe and engaged in these collections were exposed by OSINT researchers for visiting occupied territories of Ukraine and transferring humanitarian aid to Russian military personnel. They obtained income from the sale of church items, icons, souvenirs, and products under the guise of charity, during which they collected donations for Russian military formations.
The ROC is also used as cover for various kinds of shadowy schemes and criminal activity. On 26 May 2026, numerous European media outlets reported the arrest by Czech police of Metropolitan Hilarion, known for sex scandals, who had previously headed the ROC’s Department for External Church Relations. A white substance was found in his car, which expertise later determined to be a “prohibited narcotic substance.” The scandal surrounding the metropolitan exposed an unprecedented level of corruption and double standards among the top leadership of the ROC in Europe. The “spiritual diplomat” was found to hold a Hungarian passport, multimillion-dollar assets, and elite estates in Hungary, which forced the ROC Synod, under the pressure of information and political pressure, to urgently remove him from his post in order to conceal and preserve shadowy financial schemes, reassigning him to Brazil.
The ROC abroad participates in propaganda events that are systematically conducted in Europe and coordinated with Russian diplomatic structures such as Rossotrudnichestvo and RF embassies. Historical and memorial events are a key instrument for promoting the Kremlin ideology of the “Russian world” and the sacralisation of Soviet historical myths. Every year during the celebration of 9 May, the clergy of the Berlin and German Diocese lead the ranks of the “Immortal Regiment” marches in Germany, mixing religious crosses with banned St. George ribbons. Every year on the eve of 22 June in France, memorial services are held at the Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois cemetery near Paris with the participation of Russian diplomats, accompanied by sermons about the “ingratitude of the West” and “Russia’s exclusive role in saving Europe and the entire Orthodox world.”
After the start of the full-scale war against Ukraine and the imposition of sanctions, the ROC confronted the toxicity of its own brand. Open demonstration of affiliation with the Russian patriarchate began to alienate many parishioners, particularly Ukrainians, who constituted one of the largest congregations. Therefore the network of Russian churches in Europe began adapting its activities to the specific features of individual countries and attempts to present itself as Ukrainian religious communities in order to maintain influence over Ukrainian refugees. On 17 July 2026, the Ukrainian publication Kyiv Post and the Institute of Mass Information reported the results of a study by the Institute of National Resilience and Security, whose authors analysed the network of communities linked to the ROC in European countries. According to their findings, humanitarian aid, children’s centres, psychological training sessions, bilingual services, Ukrainian names and symbols are used to attract Ukrainian refugees, under the cover of which priests spread narratives about the necessity of renouncing the occupied territories of Ukraine in favour of Russia, justify Russian aggression, and condemn assistance from the West.
Thus, the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church in Europe expose its deep double standards: while sheltering behind slogans about “traditional Christian values,” it in reality functions as an instrument of the Kremlin for conducting hybrid warfare and constitutes its soft power. Through its foreign centres the ROC spreads anti-Western propaganda, justifies war crimes, and assists in the conduct of espionage and sabotage activities. Perceiving it as exclusively a religious organisation is a mistake, and the absence of tightened control and restrictions on its activities may prove too costly.