Since the onset of the Ukraine war, NATO has recognized the evolving threat from Russia including the use of religious proxies and internal unorthodox methods to destabilize Western societies. The paper identifies how Russia exploits religious narratives and institutions to influence societies, recruit intelligence assets, and create vulnerabilities, especially through the Russian Orthodox Church and linked actors. It highlights current NATO deficiencies in countering these religiously framed hybrid warfare tactics. The brief presents critiques of NATO policy, noting gaps in intelligence coordination, the need for enhanced transparency, legal frameworks, and development of specific guidelines against religious subversion. The report recommends stronger NATO counterintelligence coordination, financial controls, legal oversight mechanisms, and specific policies for combating Russia's religious proxy use, stressing that such internal threats represent a dangerous front requiring strategic attention. These unorthodox threats are framed as part of broader Russian hybrid warfare aiming at influencing societal fault lines and weakening allied resilience from within.

Since the onset of the Ukraine war, NATO has recognized the evolving threat from Russia including the use of religious proxies and internal unorthodox methods to destabilize Western societies. The paper identifies how Russia exploits religious narratives and institutions to influence societies, recruit intelligence assets, and create vulnerabilities, especially through the Russian Orthodox Church and linked actors. It highlights current NATO deficiencies in countering these religiously framed hybrid warfare tactics. The brief presents critiques of NATO policy, noting gaps in intelligence coordination, the need for enhanced transparency, legal frameworks, and development of specific guidelines against religious subversion. The report recommends stronger NATO counterintelligence coordination, financial controls, legal oversight mechanisms, and specific policies for combating Russia's religious proxy use, stressing that such internal threats represent a dangerous front requiring strategic attention. These unorthodox threats are framed as part of broader Russian hybrid warfare aiming at influencing societal fault lines and weakening allied resilience from within.