Religion-related and psychological determinants of the war in Russia and Ukraine

Anti-religious propaganda in the former Soviet Union was efficient; atheism had been easily accepted after 1917 not only due to the propaganda, but also because religiosity was not as deeply ingrained as it is sometimes supposed. Faithful people belonged mainly to the middle class, which has been disrupted and newly formed since that time. In Ukraine the situation was different: communist rulers were concerned about religious revival in the 1920s and later on. The hypothesis is presented here that a majority of today’s churchgoers, priests and clerical officials in Russia are atheists or agnostics, habitually following prescribed ideologies. Religious vocabulary is misused for political purposes. Furthermore, the psychopathological background of aggressiveness in some leaders is analyzed here. Mentally abnormal war instigators should be assessed by psychiatrists on the basis of their speech, writings and behavior. More expert opinions are needed to corroborate the necessity of the crew change. Russian leaders are currently blamed for aggression. Should the world become multipolar, armed conflicts of varying scales will become the norm. In some ways, this would be a return to the 20th century, or even earlier times. A constructive alternative is a global leadership centered in developed parts of the world, based on humanism and modern science.