At a recent press conference, President Vladimir Putin gave a strange answer when asked if he believed the war between Russia and Ukraine would end in 2025. “I believe in God” he said“And God is with us.”
A confident leader who believed the war was going well for his side would have answered emphatically with a yes or no, perhaps even clenching his fist and shaking it triumphantly. Like Donald Trump, who was targeted and failed. .
Instead, Putin invoked God, a response that hinted at uncertainty and doubt. If you know you are winning and you believe you will win, why would you ask for help from the Almighty? Earthly problems are fine, so why reach out to heaven? Perhaps the war is getting worse and Putin knows it?
Now, let's see if President Putin is a sincere believer, a proven fanatic of the Russian Orthodox brand of Christianity, a believer in God who cannot help but constantly call on God in his daily work. There is a slight possibility that there is.
However, there is no reason to believe in his religious sincerity. First, he's a Russian tough guy who has infiltrated the notoriously bloodthirsty KGB. Neither his actions nor his association with godless criminal organizations are indicative of excessive religiosity.
Another is that President Putin is clearly trying to shore up his crumbling legitimacy by reaching out to ordinary Russians, just as Joseph Stalin did after Nazi Germany's attack on the Soviet Union. You don't have to be a cynic to suspect that he's playing the religious card. By June 1941, it became clear that many Soviets welcomed the advancing Wehrmacht as liberators from communist hell.
Third, is it reasonable to think that President Putin has ever deciphered the Bible, which President Trump claims is his favorite book, half-jokingly? At least Trump did. I took a photo with it. Is there a President Putin? Does he, like Trump, have a favorite line he just can't remember?
So does President Putin really believe in God? If you think almost everything he says is a lie, the answer must be “no.” Indeed, even if he believes in some god, that god is not the one who gave mankind the Ten Commandments or the one who preached the Sermon on the Mount.
“Thou shalt not kill” is completely incompatible with a genocidal war against innocent Ukrainians and with targeted killings of political opponents. The Beatitudes are equally at odds with Putin's style of “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.” And above all this: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”
Putin's god could be an Old Testament god full of vengeance and wrath, or it could be a pagan god, perhaps Zeus or his Slavic counterpart Perun. In any case, President Putin is not a Christian. He is therefore an apostate of Orthodoxy, a heretic who does not need to associate with himself or with the clergy. An exception is the equally criminal Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill. Soviet era KGB agent.
Putin may truly believe that God supports “special military operations,” but how would he know? Unless, of course, God speaks directly to him, which is probably why he's so frightening. Probably while the people who committed the crime were asleep.
And if President Putin is convinced that God is actually speaking to him, that could only mean that the Russian dictator is a saint with direct descent from the Almighty. But considering Putin's continued disregard for the Commandments and Beatitudes, making God a saint seems an odd choice. Saints rarely lived perfect lives, but they all experienced conversion and then turned their backs on their sinful lives. This is something that Putin has not yet done. Or did he convert to Pauline as his chariots roared down the road to Damascus?
So, no, Putin almost certainly does not believe in God, and God is almost certainly not “with” him and his mass murderers. But what if Putin believes himself to be a god, or at least a god-like being? Blasphemy is not difficult for a KGB veteran, but for a tyrant who has been in power for 25 years, paranoia is at hand. Ancient emperors regularly believed in their own divinity, so why didn't Putin?
This question may seem far-fetched, but that's only at first glance. President Putin presents himself as the savior of Russia and the world. He is never wrong. He has an apostle fanzine. Russians adore him. And if he doesn't let Russia lose the Ukraine war, he will have performed a miracle.
All that remains is the crucifixion.
Alexander J. Motil He is a professor of political science at Rutgers University-Newark. He is an expert on Ukraine, Russia, the Soviet Union, and nationalism, revolution, empire, and theory, and is the author of ten nonfiction books.imperial end“The Decline, Collapse, and Resurrection of Empires'' and “Why the Empire is rising again: Compare the collapse of an empire and the revival of an empire. ”
