Council of Europe Adopts Sanctions on Russian Propagandists, Labels Orthodox Church a Tool of Influence

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has adopted a resolution addressing propaganda and freedom of information in Europe, calling for sanctions against Russian propagandists and recognizing the Russian Orthodox Church as a tool of influence.

According to Oleksiy Honcharenko, a member of the Ukrainian delegation to PACE, 117 delegates voted in favor of the resolution, 14 opposed it, and five abstained. Notably, five of the parliamentarians who voted against the resolution were from Italy.

The resolution, available on the PACE website, expresses concern over the widespread dissemination of propaganda aimed at biased public opinion formation, which threatens the proper functioning of democratic systems and endangers common values and human dignity.

“Harmful propaganda includes both illegal forms and those that, while not explicitly prohibited, can harm the development of free thought and informed citizen participation in public debates and decision-making through unethical communication methods, including disinformation and psychological manipulation,” the resolution states.

At the same time, PACE emphasized that combating harmful propaganda should not become an excuse for censorship.

“The Assembly recognizes that for authoritarian regimes like the Russian Federation, propaganda is an integral part of their war against democracy. Russian state media, such as RT (formerly Russia Today), along with troll factories, are part of a broader strategy to destabilize European democracies and influence political processes,” the resolution continues.

The Assembly also reiterated its call to recognize the Russian Orthodox Church as a tool of Russian influence and propaganda used by the Kremlin regime. Furthermore, the Assembly urged the imposition of targeted sanctions against Russian media, such as RT and its affiliates, for violating journalistic ethics and posing a national security threat to member states.

Earlier, in a previous resolution, PACE recognized the Russian Orthodox Church as a tool of Kremlin propaganda. The resolution highlighted that the regime of Russian leader Vladimir Putin promotes a neo-imperialist ideology called the “Russian World,” which the Kremlin has turned into a tool for fueling war. The hierarchy of the Russian Orthodox Church supports this ideology by framing the war against Ukraine and the West as a “sacred war of all Russians.”