Priest praises Putin’s ‘iron will’

A LEADING Russian Orthodox priest has praised the “iron will” of President Vladimir Putin and welcomed his “readiness to go all the way” in making Russia a dominant power, writes Jonathan Luxmoore. “It’s better not to live at all than as moral and spiritual cripples, guided not by our people’s will but by some manipulative force,” said Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, director of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Church-Society Commission. “It seems to me an iron will is resounding in the words of our president, and being reflected in statements by consistent state officials, public figures and publicists: we understand that Moscow is behind us.”

Addressing the Izborsk Club, founded in 2012 to promote a “Euroasian identity” for Russia, the Patriarchate official said “such a readiness” had not been anticipated by the country’s foreign opponents, who had “considered Russia a territory for free hunting”. He praised the “best ideals of Holy Rus ... and the Islamic Caliphate”.