Christian faith threatens Russian President Vladimir Putin because it is out of his control. As such, his war on Ukraine has centered on the systematic persecution of Christians, their families and their churches.
That is a central message of “A Faith Under Siege: Russia’s Hidden War on Ukraine’s Christians,” a documentary premiering May 10 on CBN, and following on TBN, Newsmax and several screening platforms.
“If you find faithful believers, they have just one allegiance, and that’s to Jesus Christ,” Colby Barrett, the film’s producer, told Baptist Press in explaining Putin’s fear. “It’s hard to control people when they only report to God.”
Story needing telling
The documentary is spearheaded by Steven Moore of Ukraine Freedom Project, who went to Ukraine five days after Putin invaded the smaller country in February 2022. Moore, the documentary’s co-executive producer with Ukrainian journalist Anna Shvetsova, teamed with Barrett, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, entrepreneur and farmer; Ukrainian film crews and a New York post-production crew in the project that officially began in July 2024 but also drew on connections Moore had made since arriving in Ukraine.
The persecution of Ukrainian Christians is a story Moore believes is not being told as loudly and as frequently as needed, as least for American Christians to understand the impact.
“This story is getting out because I’m going to make it get out,” Moore decided. “So that’s what Colby and I and our team are doing. We’re bringing light to these very dark stories and we are letting Ukrainian believers tell their own story.”
Moore hopes the documentary brings to light for Christians in the U.S. the true picture of Vladimir Putin and his war on Ukraine, he told Baptist Press.
Moore had already interviewed pastors who had suffered torture at the hands of Russian soldiers. But he and Barrett suited themselves in body armor and drove 1,500 miles around the perimeters of Russian occupied territories of Ukraine, interviewing pastors, mothers, children and other believers who had suffered persecution under Russian occupation, or who had endured a Russian invasion, the two told Baptist Press.
They encountered a young boy who had only just escaped.
“He was the son of a pastor, and he was being forced to join the Russian military to fight against Ukraine in order to put pressure on his father, who was a pastor,” Barrett said. “We talked to fathers that had lost their families in drone strikes where the Russians had sent Iranian drones over and killed their families. We talked to chaplains that were serving on the front lines.”
There were escaped children and mothers who had smuggled their children out of occupied territories.
“But I can tell you, everybody there is suffering in one way or the other. Obviously, some lived under occupation. Some are still living under occupation. All of them are suffering under constant threat of drone and missile attack because the way Putin is waging this war is really against Ukraine as a group of Ukrainians, as a group of people,” Barrett said. “And so there’s not a military or civilian target. It’s just any Ukrainians that can be killed or terrorized or brutalized. That’s kind of the approach. So everybody’s suffering. This is absolute, you know, it’s total war over there.”
By the numbers
By the numbers, Russia has killed at least 47 Ukrainian pastors, priests and other faith leaders since the war began; has shelled, looted or destroyed at least 650 churches; has killed, injured or kidnapped some 22,000 Ukrainian children since February 2022, according to multiple sources cited by A Faith Under Siege researchers including Mission Eurasia, Newsweek, the Institute for Religious Freedom and others.
Authoritarian leaders have historically feared faith communities, Barrett said.
“That was one of the refrain that we heard there from Ukrainian Christians that the Russians are actually afraid of faith because they really see it as a powerful force. And it’s even, you see this in their laws,” he said. “In 2016, Russia passed the Yarovaya law, which made it illegal to preach the Gospel publicly.
“This is something that doesn’t get much reporting, but I think Baptists have been arrested and prosecuted under this law for just simply telling the person sitting next to you on a bus bench about Jesus. That’s illegal in Russia. And the reason is, is that’s how you control a population, is by absolutely suppressing their faith.”
Watch A Faith Under Siege May 10 at 8 p.m. EDT on CBN, with rebroadcasts scheduled May 10 at 11 p.m., May 11 at noon and 8 p. m. and May 12 at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m., all EDT. Additional viewing opportunities will be announced at faithunderseige.com.
Moore and Barrett are hosting a screening tonight (May 6) at 6 p.m. EDT at the Museum of the Bible in Washington.
Moore encourages churches to access to educational materials related to the documentary at faithunderseige.com, including a prayer guide, information on hosting a free documentary screening, contacting respective congressional representatives, connecting with ministries including Ukraine Freedom Project, Samaritan’s Purse and Save Ukraine and inviting Moore and Barrett to church events.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Diana Chandler and originally published by Baptist Press.
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