The Insider: Russia’s security service uses church and ‘miracle’ icons to promote Kremlin ideology

Russia’s Federal Security Service, known as the FSB, is using the Russian Orthodox Church and so-called “miracle” icons as a cover for intelligence services and criminal networks to expand its influence in Ukraine and abroad, a new investigation by The Insider reveals.

Journalist Sergei Kanev details how the FSB, generals of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, and criminal figures have built a network of influence through church structures. 

The centerpiece of this scheme is the icon of the Mother of God “Softening of Evil Hearts,” which, according to legend, began “weeping” in a Moscow apartment in 1998. News of the so-called miracle spread quickly, drawing long lines of people eager to see the phenomenon.

Construction of a church for the icon in the closed population center of Bachurino, home to the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service’s leadership, was financed by former criminal figure Anatoliy Petrov, known as “Petruha.”

In the 1990s, Petruha was part of the Podolsk organized crime group, and in the 2000s he cultivated connections with Russian Orthodox hierarchs and security services to white wash his reputation. Petrov also paid for the education of Margarita Vorobyova, who reportedly discovered the “miracle,” and gifted her a plot of land next to the church.

The icon quickly became a tool for promoting the “Russkyi Mir,” an ideology that promotes Russian soft power and influence campaigns. 

The icon was then transported to occupied Crimea and Donbas, as well as Syria, Europe, and the United States. 

In 2014, during the occupation of the Crimean Peninsula, the icon was accompanied by former church servant Serhiy Fomin, who worked in the Moscow Patriarchate’s department for “cooperation with security services.” While the icon participated in a prayer service “for peace in Crimea,” GRU special forces were seizing Ukrainian military bases.

In the Donbas combat zone, a copy of the icon, called the “Donetsk Icon,” is used. According to sources close to the Russian Orthodox Church, it “helps soldiers, diverts bullets, and even intercepts American missiles.” In reality, it is a media project with its own budget, promotional tours, and sales of “holy oil” in the church’s shop in Bachurino.

The Bachurino church is regularly visited by generals, officials, and families of judges. Among the parishioners are former Soviet KGB officers, and until recently, the priest Dmitry Kuvyrtalov, who served as a “spiritual advisor” to Russian troops at the front, was convicted in 2023 for distributing child pornography.

The Insider reported that the church structure surrounding the “Softening of Evil Hearts” icon has become a joint project of the criminal underworld, the Russian Orthodox Church, and Russian security agencies. Under the guise of “miracle tours,” they spread the “Russkyi Mir” among Orthodox communities in Europe, the United States, and in occupied territories of Ukraine.