ABSTRACT
This chapter examines ideological patterns concerning minority religious groups in Russia during the conflict in Ukraine and reactions of religious minorities to the conflict. The author indicates that ideological statements of Russian publicly-funded media and the Russian Orthodox Church tend to describe affiliation with religious minorities in a negative way as a part of the image of the enemy as opposed to a normative Russian identity. Religious minorities are often portrayed as having a hidden agenda and acting as agents of foreign influence, specifically to ignite revolutionary actions and to undermine social stability in various countries, including Ukraine and Russia. The history of these narratives is rooted both in Soviet criticism of religion and in the ideas of the American anti-cult movement transmitted in Russia during late 1980s and 1990s. At the same time, minority groups themselves are not unified concerning the situation in Ukraine. They demonstrate different perspectives on the actions of Russian government during the conflict, ranging from critical to sympathetic. However, because even sympathetic minority groups and individuals tend to act outside of established hierarchical structures, their actions are likely to be perceived as a threat to the established social order regardless their specific content of their views.
