Russia’s sacred façade cracks as Lavra assault reveals the truth on faith

An op-ed argues that Russia’s use of Orthodoxy as a political tool is laid bare by the June 2026 strike on Kyiv’s Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, showing that the Kremlin’s narrative of defending faith clashes with its destruction of churches and persecution of Ukrainian clergy; it criticizes Western romanticism of a uniquely spiritual Russia and contends that true civilization does not erase other cultures, urging readers to see through Moscow’s religious propaganda as evidence of imperial violence.