Nadene Goldfoot
Joseph Stalin was absolute Dictator from 1924 to 1953. Ukraine in particular suffered harshly at Stalin’s hands because of forced collectivization (giving up their farms for the communist idea of all people owning it) the new replacement for religious beliefs-=Communism. He encountered strenuous resistance there, for which he never forgave the Ukrainians. His policies thereafter brought widespread starvation to that republic, especially in 1932–33, when possibly millions may have died. Nevertheless, many party officials from Ukraine came to Moscow to make their careers, among them Nikita S. Khrushchev, who would succeed Stalin.
Russia has been in the changeover from complete atheism, outlawing any kind of religion, especially Judaism, to observance of the Russian Orthodox Christianity of their own past observances with Putin completely involved in it. From 1932 to 1937 Joseph Stalin declared the 'five-year plans of atheism' and the LMG was charged with completely eliminating all religious expression in the country.
Between 1945 and 1959 the official organization of the church was greatly expanded, although individual members of the clergy were occasionally arrested and exiled. The number of open churches reached 25,000. By 1957 about 22,000 Russian Orthodox churches had become active.
But in 1959, Nikita Khrushchev (1953-1964) initiated his own campaign against the Russian Orthodox Church and forced the closure of about 12,000 churches. By 1985, fewer than 7,000 churches remained active.
Russia then had Leonid Brezhnev from 1964-1982, Yuri Andropov from 1982-1984, Konstantin Chernenko from 1984-1985, and Mikhal Gorbachev from 1985-1991.
Putin, born 7 October 1952 in Leningrad (St. Petersburg), Russia, former Lt. Col. intelligence officer for KGB for 16 years,
Vladimir Putin was Prime Minister from 1999-2000, President from 2000-2008, and again, including being the PM from 2008 to 2012, and continuously since 2012 to 2022. Putin is the second-longest current serving European president after Alexander Lukashenko of neighbouring Belarus, serving 22 years as president.
There are now from 500,000 to one million Old Believers, who represents an older form of Russian Orthodox Christianity, and who separated from the Orthodox Church in the 17th century as a protest against Patriarch Nikon's church reforms. The Catholic Church estimates that there are from 600,000 to 1.5 million Catholics in the country, exceeding government estimates of about 140,000.
Holy Trinity Cathedral in Sergiev Posad
Christianity was the religious self-identification of 47.1% of the Russian population in 2012. Other polls give different results: In the same year 2020 the Levada Center estimated that 63% of Russians were Christians. The Church of LDS was able to reestablish its presence in Russia in 1990, and the Russian government officially recognized the Church in May 1991. Membership grew in the 1990s and early 2000s, and by 2009, the Church reported membership of 19,946 in 129 congregations in Russia.
What's different in Putin's belief system? Nothing, religiously, one can say. In fact, he's more bloodthirsty than ever, ordering the bombing of civilian centers in Ukraine in his madness for ownership of this democratic country. Under Putin's leadership, Russia has shifted to authoritarianism. Putin's rule has been characterised by the jailing, assassination and repression of political opponents, the intimidation and suppression of media freedom in Russia, and a lack of free and fair elections. Right now we have several Americans jailed in Russia, with a recent Black female held for using a cream with something outlawed in it, held on petty charges because they are Americans.
What the political stance of Russia is today, a known Communist country, in fact, the country of origin of Communism, is a mishmash of Communism and a Democracy allowing millionaires to thrive midst the below-the poverty-line of peasants. While the rich vie for the largest yachts, the poor struggle to put food on their meager tables. It all falls under the label of deceit and money laundering.
Russia now recruiting Syrian fighters to capture Kyiv, offering $300: Reports
Now, Putin is sending Syrian Muslims to fight in Ukraine for Russia, a country he has actually taken over since about 2013-2014 since Russian men and women were living there. This was reported to me by Jack Huffman of Damascus then, having made friends and speaking some Russian with his new friend. They are his pawns in his true-life chess game ; a game he evidently has never played or knowns nothing about. There are several people from Ukraine that are chess masters, however.
By 30 September 2015, Russia launched its first airstrikes against targets in Rastan, Talbiseh, and Zafaraniya in Homs province of Syria. Moscow gave the United States a one-hour advance notice of its operations. The Homs area is crucial to President Bashar al-Assad's control of western Syria, and Russia is "helping" him out. Russia has supported the administration of incumbent President Bashar al-Assad of Syria since the beginning of the Syrian conflict in 2011: politically, with military aid, and (since September 2015) through its Mission in Syria (Russian: Миссия в Сирии Missiya v Sirii) with direct military involvement. Now, Assad is in Putin's pocket.
Resource:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_involvement_in_the_Syrian_civil_war#:~:text=On%2030%20September%202015%2C%20Russia,Assad's%20control%20of%20western%20Syria.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Christians_in_the_Soviet_Union#:~:text=From%201932%20to%201937%20Joseph,religious%20expression%20in%20the%20country.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_in_Russia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_leaders_of_the_Soviet_Union
https://nypost.com/2022/03/05/russian-oligarch-yachts-scrambling-for-safe-havens-amid-seizures/
https://www.britannica.com/place/Russia/The-Stalin-era-1928-53
https://www.britannica.com/topic/collectivization
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