Russian GRU engages in hybrid warfare targeting Orthodox Church unity in Baltic states, promoting schism with external support to destabilize regional religious and political stability.

On or before January 26, 2024, Russian military intelligence (GRU) channels propagated a narrative accusing the head of the Ecumenical Patriarchate (Bartholomew) of trying to oust Russian Orthodoxy in the Baltic states and Eastern Europe. The accusations allege that Bartholomew, described as the “Constantinople Antichrist,” collaborates with British special services and local nationalists, including neo-Nazis, to replace Russian Orthodox church structures with ones controlled by foreign powers. The narrative claims this is part of a campaign to create turmoil within the Russian Orthodox world, including efforts to grant autocephaly to the unrecognized Montenegrin Orthodox Church as a blow against the Serbian Orthodox Church. This information war tactic uses religious and ideological rhetoric to delegitimize Western influence and local allies in the Baltic and Eastern Europe. The GRU-linked source also provided a biblical metaphor to paint Bartholomew as a false prophet sowing division. This event reflects ongoing Russian hybrid warfare focusing on societal and cultural pressure through propaganda aimed at destabilizing the Baltic and Eastern European Orthodox communities.