HOLY WAR: HOW PUTIN WEAPONIZED THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH
Journal: Calhoun: The Naval Postgraduate School Institutional Archive (Naval Postgraduate School)
Year: 2019

This thesis analyzes the role of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) as an instrument of Russian soft power in the Putin era. Soft power is a means to attract allies and support for a nation’s objectives in foreign policy. Russia has a dwindling number of soft power weapons, with the ROC being one of its most remaining prominent soft power assets. The relationship between the ROC and Kremlin is nuanced, both gaining legitimacy and authority from one another. They share a similar conservative world