Putin Delivers Christmas Message as Fighting Continues Despite Cease-Fire

Vladimir Putin has praised the support of the Russian Orthodox Church for his invasion of Ukraine, which followed his call for a cease-fire over the Christmas period.

However, fighting has continued over the religious holiday and an advocacy group for the global Orthodox Christian Church described the Russian leader's cease-fire appeal as "nothing more than a hypocritical act of self-serving desperation."

Putin stood alone during a midnight service at the Cathedral of the Annunciation in the grounds of the Kremlin as he marked Orthodox Christmas, which is conventionally observed on January 7.

The Russian leader presented a religious context for the war in Ukraine in his Christmas message, as he paid tribute to organizations within the church for its "support for our soldiers participating in a special military operation," using Moscow's term for the conflict.

"Such great, multifaceted, truly ascetic work deserves the most sincere respect," he said in the message, which praised how the church's organizations "give priority to maintaining inter-ethnic and inter-religious peace and harmony in our country."

Putin had called for a 36-hour cease-fire in the war to take account of the religious holiday, although this was rejected by Ukraine. Experts said it was a Kremlin ploy to allow Russian troops to regroup and portray Kyiv as being unwilling to engage in peace talks.

British defense officials said on Saturday that fighting had continued at "routine level" into the Orthodox Christmas period, while U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Laura Cooper described Putin's statement as something "we have to take with a grain of salt."

Meanwhile, the Orthodox Public Affairs Committee (OPAC), a U.S.-based advocacy group for the global Orthodox Christian Church, condemned Putin's proposal.

"While we support and encourage an end to hostilities in Ukraine, albeit even temporary, the unilateral ceasefire proposed by Putin [is] nothing more than a hypocritical act of self-serving desperation," it said in a media statement shared with Newsweek.

It noted that "no such cease-fire was proposed for Holy Week and Easter of 2022, and the bombing of innocent civilians continued through the holidays and that "this staged piety...is clearly designed to win points with the despondent, disappointed, and angry people of Russia."

"The Russian government and Russian Orthodox Church have no right to appeal to the Prince of Peace unless they themselves practice peace," the statement added.

OPAC has repeatedly condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the cooperation between the world's largest Orthodox denomination and the war.

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, is a Putin ally, and has been accused by rights groups of complicity in war crimes in Ukraine as he has given a religious justification for the war.

In a sermon shortly after the invasion, he called Ukraine part of the "Russian lands" and said that Ukrainians defending their country were "forces of evil." The patriarch has also called for a temporary cease-fire over the religious holiday.

The Orthodox Church of Ukraine isn't aligned with the Russian church.

Newsweek has contacted the Russian Orthodox Church's department for external church relations for comment.