On 1 October 2024, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted Resolution 2567 (2024) on "Propaganda and Freedom of Information in Europe", in which it expressed its concern about the spread of propaganda that undermines the functioning of democratic systems, threatens common values and human dignity and recommended that Council of Europe member states take appropriate measures.

In paragraph 6 of the Resolution, the Assembly recognises "that for authoritarian regimes, such as the Russian Federation, propaganda is an inalienable part of their war on democracy". PACE, recalling its Resolution 2540 (2024) "Alexei Navalny's death and the need to counter Vladimir Putin's totalitarian regime and its war on democracy ", reiterates its call to recognise that "the Russian Orthodox Church is being used as an instrument of Russian influence and propaganda by the Kremlin regime".

For the reasons set out in the Resolution, the Assembly recommends that the member states of the Council of Europe develop comprehensive strategies to combat illegal propaganda and ensure an effective response to the dissemination of harmful, albeit legitimate, propaganda. In this regard, they (member states) should, in particular:

12.6 «recognise the role of the Russian Orthodox Church as a tool of Russian State propaganda, and evaluate and address the involvement of religious institutions that are used for spreading the Kremlin’s propaganda in their countries».

We remind you that in August 2024, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the Law of Ukraine "On Protection of the Constitutional Order in the Field of Activities of Religious Organisations", Article 3, part one of which prohibits the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine, "given that the Russian Orthodox Church is an ideological continuation of the regime of the aggressor state, an accomplice to war crimes and crimes against humanity committed on behalf of the Russian Federation and the ideology of the Russian world».

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