‘Scared’ Russian leader puts faith in church icon to turn tide of war

AN INCREASINGLY superstitious Vladimir Putin has issued a decree to move Russia’s most treasured orthodox icon from a museum to a church in the apparent hope of reversing the country’s battlefield losses in Ukraine.

Despite fears that the priceless artwork could be damaged beyond repair, Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow has been ordered to hand over Andrei Rublev’s 15th-century icon, Holy Trinity, to the Russian Orthodox Church.

The staunchly pro-putin church, which has supported the invasion of Ukraine, had not been allowed to take the icon on loan until a three-week swap was arranged last summer.

Museum staff later reported minor damage to it, caused by improper storage conditions.

Mr Putin did not publicly explain his decision to have the painting transferred. The move was reported by the Russian Orthodox Church, which said in a statement on Monday that the president heeded “numerous requests from orthodox believers”.

The priceless painting will reportedly be displayed at Moscow’s main cathedral for a year, before moving to a monastery outside the capital.

“Putin is scared. That’s the only thing I suppose would be the real reason behind giving the Holy Trinity icon to the church,” Ksenia Luchenko, a prominent author on church affairs, told Ekho Moskvy, an exiled radio station.

“He has a primitive superstition for everything that concerns religion. Putin previously gave his blessing to the idea of handing out (pocket-size) icons to the troops – it didn’t work. Now they’ve decided to go even further.”

During his first visit to occupied Kherson last month, Mr Putin presented an orthodox icon to Russian commanders in an attempt to portray the invasion as a holy war for Russia’s survival.

Separately, the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg confirmed last weekend that it would give the church the casket that once held the relics of Prince Alexander Nevsky, a 13th-century ruler Mr Putin has described as a paragon of Russia’s eternal battle against the West.

Art historians have compared the 600-year-old Holy Trinity icon to a patient on life-support who would be doomed if they were unhooked from medical equipment. Sofia Bagdasarova, an art author, said this week that the icon “will literally die within a year or several months” if it is moved somewhere for a prolonged period of time.

The Kremlin deflected criticism earlier this week as Dmitry Peskov, its spokesman, insisted that “keeping the icon at a museum does not correspond to the wishes of the believers”.