↑"At Expense of All Others, Putin Picks a Church". The New York Times. 24 April 2008. “Just as the government has tightened control over political life, so, too, has it intruded in matters of faith. The Kremlin’s surrogates in many areas have turned the Russian Orthodox Church into a de facto official religion“
↑"Backlash of faith shakes atheists". The Guardian. 7 January 2001. “It is only natural there has been a surge in interest in religion over the past decade, given the repression that went before,' Levinson said. 'But we are particularly concerned about the growing influence of the Russian Orthodox Church - which has become the de facto state religion - to the exclusion of all other convictions.“
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