Holy Russia back with a vengeance
UNREPORTED World meets some of Russia’s most prolific parents and investigates a new militant mood sweeping the country.
The resurgent Russian Orthodox Church is at the forefront of a this movement, which combines religion and nationalism. In Rostov on Don, reporters Marcel Theroux and Jessica Kelly meet an Orthodox family with 18 children who have received medals from the government and cash from some of the country’s richest people, who are keen to associate with the values that President Putin is promoting – family, God and country.
And in Moscow the team investigate the darker side of this resurgent religious nationalism – a wave of intolerance. Theroux meets a millionaire banker with Kremlin connections and the founder of television station Tsargrad TV, which broadcasts nationalist material and features speakers attacking abortion and homosexuality.
And traditionalist philosopher Alexander Dugin – one of the leading figures of the new nationalist and Orthodoxy movement – tells Theroux that he believes Russia and the West are opponents in a global spiritual battle that Russia will win.
Theroux concludes that, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, many people thought it was only a matter of time before Russia became like the West. But instead, the Orthodox Church and Putin’s government are rejecting the secular West and its liberal values as they strive to make Russia great again.