Religious Narratives and Russia’s Soft Power in the Middle East

Abstract

The article investigates how Russian state and non-state actors promote religious narratives in the Middle East and what influence these narratives have on foreign policy. Adopting the interpretivist perspective, it combines critical discourse analysis and process tracing for the period 2011–2018. Two major narratives are identified: a specifically Orthodox narrative and a narrative grounded in Christian and broader spiritual values as well as inter-religious dialogue. The findings show that these religious narratives target strategically Middle Eastern and international audiences, generating various interactions and legitimising Russian foreign policy, including its military intervention in Syria.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The study does not take Syria as a case study due to the complex entanglement of soft and hard power instruments in the context of Russia’s military intervention.

2 ‘Patriarch Kirill Concerns about Increasing Christianophobia in Some Arab Countries’, Interfax, 14 November 2011, available at: http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=8877, accessed 10 August 2017.

3 ‘V.V. Putin: Rossiya budet zashchishchat’ khristianskie men’shinstva v stranakh Blizhnego Vostoka’, Patriarchia, 9 February 2012, available at: http://www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/2007070.html, accessed 20 August 2017.

4 Based in Washington DC, Al Monitor is one of the leading English-language media organisations providing reporting and analysis on the Middle East.

5 Nye’s conceptualisation of soft power is focused on the universal character of Western liberal democracy and its attractiveness to the rest of the world.

6 ‘Patriarkh Kirill postavil vneshnyuyu politiku Rossii v primer drugim gosudarstvam’, Interfax, 27 January 2014, available at: http://www.interfax-religion.ru/orthodoxy/?act=news&div=54255, accessed 12 March 2018.

7 ‘RF budet zashchishchat' khristian na Blizhnem Vostoke i Severe Afriki’, RIA Novosti, 18 April 2017.

8 See also, ‘Interv’yu Ministra inostrannykh del Rossii gazete “Kommersant”’, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, 3 October 2012, available at: http://www.mid.ru/brp_4.nsf/0/43322DCFE93D88EA44257A8C0024041F, accessed 8 June 2017.

9 ‘Meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club’, website of the President of Russia, 19 September 2013, available at: http://eng.kremlin.ru/news/6007, accessed 8 August 2017.

10 ‘Sobornoe Slovo ХХ Vsemirnogo Russkogo Narodnogo Sobora po teme “Rossiya i Zapad: dialog narodov v poiskakh otvetov na tsivilizatsionnye vyzovy”’, Patriarchia, 3 October 2012, available at: http://www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/2505633.htm, accessed 3 July 2018.

11 ‘Meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club’, website of the President of Russia, 19 September 2013, available at: http://eng.kremlin.ru/news/6007, accessed 8 August 2017.

12 ‘Meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club’, website of the President of Russia, 19 September 2013, available at: http://eng.kremlin.ru/news/6007, accessed 8 August 2017.

13 See, for example, Lavrov (2016) and ‘Sobornoe Slovo ХХ Vsemirnogo Russkogo Narodnogo Sobora po teme “Rossiya i Zapad: dialog narodov v poiskakh otvetov na tsivilizatsionnye vyzovy”’, Patriarchia, 3 October 2012, available at: http://www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/2505633.htm, accessed 3 July 2018.

14 ‘Meeting with Representatives of Different Orthodox Patriarchates and Churches’, website of the President of Russia, 25 July 2013, available at: http://eng.kremlin.ru/news/5758, accessed 8 October 2017.

15 ‘Sostoyalas’ vstrecha Svyateishego Patriarkha Kirilla s delegatsiei Antiokhiiskogo Patriarkhata’, Patriarchia, 21 November 2016, available at: http://www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/4693670.html, accessed 10 August 2017.

16 ‘Interv’yu Ministra inostrannykh del Rossii gazete “Kommersant”’, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, 3 October 2012, available at: http://www.mid.ru/brp_4.nsf/0/43322DCFE93D88EA44257A8C0024041F, accessed 8 June 2017; ‘Slovo Svyateishego Patriarkha na zasedanii po sluchayu 135-letiya Imperatorskogo Pravoslavnogo Palestinskogo Obshhestva’, Patriarchia, 2 June 2017, available at: http://www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/4921085.html, accessed 10 August 2017.

17 The Patriarchs of Constantinople, Alexandria, Jerusalem and Antioch are the key religious leaders of regional Orthodox communities.

18 ‘Svyateishii Patriarkh Kirill prizval ostanovit’ nasilie v otnoshenii khristian Egipta’, Patriarchia, 9 May 2011, available at: http://www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/1475216.html, accessed 10 August 2017.

19 ‘Rossiya budet zashchishchat’ khristianskie men’shinstva v stranakh Blizhnego Vostoka’, Patriarchia, 9 February 2012, available at: http://www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/2007070.html, accessed 20 August 2017.

20 ‘Rossiya i menyayushchiisya mir’, Rossiiskaya gazeta, 27 February 2012; Lavrov’s speech at Geneva conference, 2 March 2015, available at: https://www.mid.ru/en_GB/posledniye_dobavlnenniye/-/asset_publisher/MCZ7HQuMdqBY/content/id/974465; ‘Patriarch Kirill urges Global Community to Stop Ignoring Persecutions of Christians in Iraq, Syria, Africa’, Interfax, 8 April 2017, available at: http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=13717, accessed 10 August 2017.

21 ‘Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s Remarks and Answers to Media Questions at a News Conference on the Results of Russian Diplomacy in 2016’, 17 January 2017, Moscow, available at: https://russiaeu.ru/en/news/foreign-minister-sergey-lavrovs-remarks-and-answers-media-questions-news-conference-results, accessed 10 August 2017.

22 ‘Patriarch Kirill Concerns about Increasing Christianophobia in some Arab Countries’, Interfax, 14 November 2011, available at: http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=8877, accessed 10 August 2017.

23 ‘Meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club’, website of the President of Russia, 19 September 2013, available at: http://eng.kremlin.ru/news/6007, accessed 8 August 2017.

24 ‘Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s Remarks and Answers to Media Questions at a News Conference on the Results of Russian Diplomacy in 2016’, 17 January 2017, Moscow.

25 ‘Supporting the Rights of Christians and Other in Middle East’, Vatican Radio, 13 March 2015, available at: http://www.archivioradiovaticana.va/storico/2015/03/13/supporting_the_rights_of_christians_and_other_in_middle_east/en-1129084, accessed 10 March 2020.

26 ‘Full Text of Joint Declaration Signed by Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill’, Catholic News Agency, 12 February 2016, available at: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/full-text-of-joint-declaration-signed-by-pope-francis-and-patriarch-kirill-61341, accessed 12 March 2017.

27 ‘Full Text of Joint Declaration Signed by Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill’, Catholic News Agency, 12 February 2016, Section 8, available at: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/full-text-of-joint-declaration-signed-by-pope-francis-and-patriarch-kirill-61341, accessed 12 March 2017.

28 ‘Meeting with Head of Coptic Church, His Holiness Pope Tawadros II’, website of the President of Russia, 24 May 2017, available at: http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/54563, accessed 4 July 2017.

29 ‘Address by Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk in Lisbon on the Russian Orthodox Church and Aid to Christians of the Middle East’, Patriarchia, 20 September 2018, available at: http://www.patriarchia.ru/en/db/print/5271046.html, accessed 25 August 2020.

30 ‘Russian Orthodox Church Returns to Mideast’, Al Monitor, 12 November 2013, available at: https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/11/russia-establishes-protective-role-of-eastern-christians.html, accessed 12 March 2019.

31 ‘Patriarch Kirill Concerns about Increasing Christianophobia in Some Arab Countries’, Interfax, 14 November 2011, available at: http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=8877, accessed 10 August 2017.

32 In 2014 Russia proposed a declaration on fighting Christianophobia and Islamophobia, in addition to anti-Semitism, within the framework of the OSCE. It promoted and successfully secured the adoption of a similar declaration within the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in April 2017.

33 ‘Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s Remarks and Answers to Media Questions at a News Conference on the Results of Russian Diplomacy in 2016’, 17 January 2017, Moscow.

34 ‘The Future of the Global Muslim Population: Projections for 2010–2030’, Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, 27 January 2011, available at: https://www.pewforum.org/2011/01/27/future-of-the-global-muslim-population-about/, accessed 12 March 2019.

35 ‘Sostoyalas’ vstrecha Svyateishego Patriarkha Kirilla s Patriarkhom Koptskoi tserkvi’, Patriarchia, 23 May 2017, available at: http://www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/4903265.html, accessed 10 August 2017.

36 ‘Religion Could Be the Key to Russian Aid on Syria’, Al Monitor, 16 June 2012, available at: https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2012/al-monitor/religion-could-hold-key-to-russi.html, accessed 12 March 2017.

37 ‘Sostoyalas’ vstrecha Svyateishego Patriarkha Kirilla s Patriarkhom Koptskoi tserkvi’, Patriarchia, 23 May 2017, available at: http://www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/4903265.html, accessed 10 August 2017.

38 Around 32.4% of the Lebanese population is Christian. The Maronite Church, an Eastern Catholic church with self-governance, is the largest Lebanese Christian denomination. This is followed by the Eastern Orthodox Church, Greek Catholics (Melkites), Armenian Orthodox, Armenian Catholics, Syriac Orthodox, Syriac Catholics, Copts and other minor communities. Overall, out of 18 officially recognised religious groups, 12 are Christian groups (2019 Report on International Religious Freedom: Lebanon, US Department of State, available at: https://www.state.gov/reports/2019-report-on-international-religious-freedom/lebanon/, accessed 12 March 2020).

39 Borshchevskaya and Ghaddar (2018) claimed that Ferzli had long-supported the Assad regime.

40 ‘In Lebanon, Moscow Supports Political Christian Orthodoxy’, Al Monitor, 24 December 2012, available at: https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2012/al-monitor/russia-orthodoxy-lebanon.html, accessed 12 March 2017.

41 ‘Russian Delegation to Beirut Focuses on Syria, Christians’, Al Monitor, 23 January 2014, available at: https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/iw/security/2014/01/russia-delegation-beirut-lebanon-syria-christians.html, accessed 12 March 2017.

42 ‘Reshenie Rossii ispol’zovat’ VVS v Sirii sootvetstvuet osoboy roli RF na Blizhnem Vostoke, zayavlyayut v Tserkvi’, Interfax, 30 September 2015, available at: http://www.interfax-religion.ru/print.php?act=news&id=60391, accessed 12 March 2019.

43 ‘Lebanese Orthodox Leaders Slam Russian Church over Syria War’, Ya Libnan, 16 October 2015, available at: https://yalibnan.com/2015/10/16/lebanese-orthodox-leaders-slam-russian-church-over-syria-war/, accessed 12 March 2019.

44 On 15 October 2015, Ya Libnan reported that the signatories included Information Minister Ramzi Joreige, Tarek Mitri (ex-Culture Minister), Ibrahim Najjar (ex-Justice Minister), Nicholas Nahas (ex-Economy Minister), former MP Gabriel Murr, MP Atef Majdalani (Future Bloc) and MP Joseph Maalouf (Lebanese Forces).

45 ‘Some Middle Eastern Christians are Speaking Up Against “Holy War” in Syria’, The Economist, 21 October 2015.

46 Vatican News (Rome), 14 April 2018, cited in Melamedov (2020).

47 ‘Exclusive: Lebanese PM Hariri Addresses Resignation, Syria, and Relationship with Hezbollah’, Euronews, 31 August 2018, available at: https://www.euronews.com/2018/08/31/exclusive-lebanese-pm-hariri-addresses-resignation-syria-and-relationship-with-hezbollah, accessed 3 July 2019.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Natalia Timuș

Natalia Timuș, Maastricht University, Maastricht Graduate School of Governance/UNU-MERIT, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD, Maastricht, The Netherlands. Email: [email protected]