There are roughly 100 million Russian Orthodox – the largest church within Orthodox Christianity. Their leader is Patriarch Kirill, who has framed Russia's invasion of Ukraine in holy terms.

In a sermon in early March, Kirill railed against the influences of the Western world – its "excess consumption" and "gay pride parades." He said of the Ukraine war: "We're talking about human salvation."

...Sergei Chapnin, who also worked for Kirill: "There are rough estimations that he's definitely a billionaire and, in fact, he's one of Putin's oligarchs – sorry to say that."

Chapnin sees Russia's church as a state propaganda machine, spreading Putin's message as the defender of conservative values against a morally-corrupt West.

Chapnin also thinks the expansionist ambitions of Kirill even exceed those of Putin: "The main motivation for Patriarch Kirill is actually power and influence," he said.