Ukraine's Ambassador to the Vatican called Russia a 'predominantly Muslim country'

The ambassador's statement

Ukraine's Ambassador to the Vatican, Andriy Yurash, said in an interview with the outlet Apostrophe that Russia is allegedly a 'predominantly Muslim country.' According to him, the number of active and conscious Orthodox believers in Russia 'does not exceed 1.5–2%,' and he did not name the sources of these figures. 'Even the highest indicators of the conditional religiosity of Russian society at Christmas or Easter have never exceeded these figures. There are far more active Muslims in Russia than Orthodox believers. Therefore, in a sociological and practical sense, Russia is rather a Muslim state than an Orthodox one,' his words are quoted as saying Gazeta.Ru.

What the surveys say

The ambassador's estimates differ markedly from survey data previously cited by the Russian press. In May, the newspaper Vedomosti reported, citing a survey by St Tikhon's Orthodox Humanitarian University, that 65% of Russians identify as Orthodox, 9% profess Islam, and 3% follow other religions; 16% did not identify with any religion, 6% called themselves atheists, and 1% could not answer. Thus, even by these figures, self-identification with Orthodoxy in Russia exceeds self-identification with Islam by more than seven times; however, the survey records religious affiliation rather than the 'activity' of believers — the category Yurash relied on. It was also reported in Aprilthat the Siberian Federal District is named the most Orthodox region of the country, and the North Caucasus Federal District the least Orthodox.

Context

In July, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' emphasizedthat the Russian Orthodox Church bears great responsibility before God and history for the events taking place in Russia. Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky statedthat Ukraine existed before Russia. Yurash's statement remains his personal assessment: the publications contain no independent verification of the figures he cited.