In an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Archbishop Savva (Tutunov) of Zelenograd, the head of the Synodal Missionary Department and deputy head of the Moscow Patriarchate, described the independence of neighboring countries from Russia as disastrous.
This was reported by the Telegram channel Christians Against War.
"The aftermath of the catastrophe in 1917, particularly the collapse of the Motherland in the 1990s, can be directly traced back to Lenin's intentional dismantling of Russian Orthodox universality."
Savva argued that "other peoples and tribes with different beliefs joined the Russian Orthodox people throughout our history." However, he overlooks the fact that these groups primarily joined as a result of wars of conquest. They underwent a process of assimilation ("partially accepting our culture, ideals, and truths") while remaining on the periphery of the empire ("the vast majority of our great writers and artists are Russian writers and artists inspired by Russian Orthodox culture.")