Statement by "Mir Vsem" regarding calls to use nuclear weapons against Ukraine and European countries

Recently, calls to use nuclear weapons against Ukraine and European countries have been heard with increasing frequency in Russia. Despite the rhetoric that "the West is waging war against Russia," it is impossible to imagine similar statements being made by European politicians and public figures regarding Russia. We are convinced that the normalization of "nukes" is a consequence of the political, diplomatic, and moral degradation of the Putin regime, under which perpetrators face no accountability either for calling for the mass destruction of Russians, Ukrainians, or Europeans, or for actual actions that result in the loss of human life.

We appeal to the hierarchs and theologians of the Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate). Today, the slogan "We can do it again" has become fashionable. We propose that you repeat the conference "Religious Workers for Saving the Sacred Gift of Life from Nuclear Catastrophe," which was held in Moscow in 1982. We believe that this agenda has once again become highly urgent. Politicians, public figures, and propagandists who call to "strike with nukes" should be invited to this conference. The concept of the "sacred gift of life" must return to the church's vocabulary.

"Anyone who attempts against the life of another human being is insane, for they attempt against that which belongs to God, and at the same time against their own life" — these words, spoken by the Primate of the Russian Church, Patriarch Pimen, in 1982, are far more relevant today. Why do we not hear them? Has inflation affected not only the ruble, but human life as well?

"Not to use nuclear weapons first is the only morally justified position" — this is the formulation from the 1986 statement of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church. If this determination has not been revoked by some secret decree and remains the official stance of the Russian Church, then the presidential decree "On Approving the Foundations of State Policy of the Russian Federation in the Area of Nuclear Deterrence," adopted in 2024 — which permits a nuclear strike in response to a non-nuclear threat — must, in the light of church teaching, be declared immoral and subject to immediate repeal.

The Board of the NGO "Mir Vsem"

• Priest Valerian Dunin-Barkovsky

• Archpriest Andrei Kordochkin

• Musician Pavel Fakhrtdinov