Russian President Vladimir Putin has awarded the Academy of the Federal Security Service (FSB) of Russia an honorary title dedicated to the organizer of the Soviet campaign of mass arrests and executions, Felix Dzerzhinsky.
Putin's decision to restore the academy's historical name is a significant symbolic act that clearly demonstrates the Kremlin's commitment to honoring the repressive regime of the Soviet era.
This was commented on by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
They recall that against the backdrop of Russian aggression against Ukraine, the Kremlin has stepped up these efforts in an attempt to strengthen its control in the country, mobilize Russian society for the war, and force disloyal Russian citizens and residents of occupied Ukrainian territories to support war.
Vladimir Putin awarded the FSB Academy the honorary title "Felix Dzerzhinsky" - the name it bore during the Soviet Union, when the academy functioned as a higher educational institution of the Soviet Committee for State Security (KGB) - the predecessor of the FSB.
Dzerzhinsky is known for organizing the "Red Terror" of the Bolshevik secret police (ChK) - a campaign of mass arrests, torture and executions in Soviet Russia after the 1917 Revolution.
The relevant decree cites "merits" of the academy's staff and Dzerzhinsky's "outstanding contribution to ensuring national security."
Putin's personal support for Dzerzhinsky's methods of ensuring national security is consistent with the more recent practice of Russian officials endorsing Stalinist-era rhetoric, including Soviet repressive policies, the persecution of the Russian opposition, and the nationalization of the Russian economy.
The Kremlin continues to use long-established false narratives that the Ukrainian government is trampling on religious freedoms as a moral justification for its prolonged war in Ukraine.
On April 22, during a reception marking Orthodox Easter, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated that one of Russia's military goals in Ukraine was to protect the "honor and dignity" of the Ukrainian people. of Russian citizens, including their right to use the Russian language and practice the Orthodox faith.
Lavrov claims that Ukraine has been persecuting the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) for more than a decade and accuses the Ukrainian government of confiscating churches and "attacking" clergy and parishioners of the UOC MP.
The Kremlin has long used allegations of alleged discrimination against the Russian population, the Russian language, and the ROC in Ukraine as justification for its invasion of Ukraine and its continued refusal to engage in bona fide peace negotiations.
The Russian Orthodox Church is an important element of Moscow’s hybrid warfare toolkit, particularly in the Kremlin’s efforts to push Kremlin narratives and Russian nationalist ideology to maintain and expand Russia’s influence in the former Soviet republics and to justify its military initiatives.
The Russian Orthodox Church has also advocated for the codification of a Russian state ideology based on the idea that Ukraine should not exist.
In addition, Russia has engaged in large-scale persecution of religious minorities, including Orthodox believers, in occupied Ukraine as part of its broader campaign aimed at the systematic destruction of independent Ukrainian national and religious identity.
The Russian occupation authorities regularly carry out arbitrary detentions and killings of Ukrainian clergy or religious leaders, as well as looting, desecrating and deliberately destroying places of worship.
Lavrov's statements on April 22 demonstrate the Kremlin's continued commitment to its original war goals and its disinterest in negotiating an end to the war. However, these statements are belied by the realities of Russia's treatment of religious minority communities in the occupied areas.