Forget Space Stations—Russian Priest Says Russia Needs an Autocratic Tsar

A high-ranking Russian Orthodox priest suggested that Russia must revive autocratic monarchical rule to reclaim its status as a global civilization, The Moscow Times reported on March 18.

Protopriest Maxim Minyaylo, senior priest of Yekaterinburg’s Church on the Blood, made the comments in response to a pro-war Russian media channel post suggesting a new orbital space station should become Russia’s “civilizational symbol.” Minyaylo dismissed the idea of space projects as “too weak” and “non-conceptual” compared to the restoration of the Tsar. “Reviving autocratic monarchical rule would be just right,” the priest stated, adding that only by looking inward and returning to autocracy will “space return to us, and more.”

The call for a formal monarchy reflects a growing sentiment among Kremlin ideologues who argue that Russia’s current constitutional structure is a mere formality. Alexander Dugin, a prominent advocate of the “Russian World” ideology, previously claimed that Russia is already a de facto monarchy where the head of state’s will supersedes all written law.

The Moscow Times cited Dugin, who said the Russian Parliament doesn’t really exist and described government officials as self-serving “boyars”  whose power lasts only as long as the “monarch” allows.

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War in Ukraine

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Calls for absolute rule have circulated among Russian elites since the 2014 illegal annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. In 2016, Sergey Aksyonov, the Kremlin-appointed head of the temporarily occupied peninsula, publicly advocated for a dictatorship to better confront “external challenges.” Aksyonov argued at the time that democracy in Russia should be restricted to “certain, normal limits” to ensure the state remains unified under a single commander.

The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) consistently acted as a primary ideological engine for the Kremlin’s expansionist policies over the past decade. Under Patriarch Kirill, the church leadership framed the invasion of Ukraine as a “metaphysical struggle,” providing religious justification for the mobilization of hundreds of thousands of troops.

The church has even actively lobbied in Washington to counter accusations of war propaganda and spiritual backing for the invasion. Currently, as the state moves toward overt totalitarianism, the ROC demands total support for the militarization of the country, with Patriarch Kirill labeling any opposition to state solutions as “treasonous.”

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