In a speech after the night Liturgy on January 7, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill (Gundyaev), recalled the tragic events that are now unfolding in Kazakhstan – in a way rather unusual for a church leader.
“We all know that the most difficult events are taking place on the territory of our once huge country. People have clashed in the gravest civil conflict as blood is really being shed,” said Kirill.
In his address, the leader of the ROC prioritized nostalgia for the USSR, the collapse of which Russian President Putin earlier called “the catastrophe of the century.” Only then did Kirill mention the bloodshed in Kazakhstan.
“And it’s very close, it’s in the territory of historical Russia, and therefore we cannot stand indifferent to this bloodshed, these clashes, this human unrest. And today, as much as I can, I prayed that the Lord would grant His mercy to the people of Kazakhstan, that the confrontation would stop, that peace would settle,” said the head of the ROC.
We know that Russia is a country with the past that has always been unpredictable. The ruling regime in the Russian Federation is trying in every way, through propaganda, to impose its version of history on everyone. But to include Kazakhstan in the “territory of historical Russia” is indeed a new twist. It is possible that in this way, the Moscow Patriarch is trying to create the basis for the occupation of Kazakhstan by Russia.
Therefore, the call to not stand indifferent is already reflected in the introduction of “peacekeeping” forces from Russia, as well as Belarus, Armenia, and other Kremlin satellites. But we also know what Russian “peacekeeping” forces really mean.
