CULTS: THE CIA'S SECRET WEAPON
[Oksana, Officer, 2nd Army Corps, LPR]
[Oksana] We're in Severodonetsk, in one of the buildings
that belonged to a cult called, 'Feel the Power of Change'
[Oksana] This is said to be a neo-Nazi cult, although
they claim to profess Orthodox values
[VO] Lugansk prosecutors have come to the house of
self-proclaimed pastor Gennady Makhnenko.
[VO] He's been training orphans to serve in the Ukrainian Army for years.
[Archive] Stop the confrontation immediately!
[Archive] Otherwise, we will be forced to take action!
[Oksana] At the start of the SMO in 2022,
he made children in Mariupol, kids from his children's home,
dig trenches for the Ukrainian Army
[Archive] We help the military dig trenches so they can at least hide or do stuff here
[VO] Investigators are gathering evidence to condemn the children's home,
where the religious cult and its totalitarian ideology was used to raise child soldiers.
[Gennady Mokhnenko, Ukrainian Religious Figure] Their Donbass kids will be drafted by the army
and brought here, and our soldiers will kill them!
[VO] The transformation of children into cold-blooded killers
was supported by international religious organisations.
[VO] Law enforcers find their traces in almost all of Donbass’ liberated settlements.
[Oksana] The cults were developed to further consolidate the people of Ukraine
and brainwash them to fight against the Russian world and Orthodoxy
[Oksana] These cults were mostly funded by the US and Europe,
and many people from Canada
[VO] In January 2023, a symbol of the 'RUNVira' Ukrainian nationalist cult
appeared next to one of the main Orthodox shrines, the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra.
[Archive] In the name of RUNVira,
in the name of Dazhbog
[VO] An essential part of every Runvirists' Sunday service is singing the Ukrainian anthem.
[Archive] To rule the native land...
[VO] Lev Silenko, a Ukrainian emigrant from the US, founded the sect.
[VO] One of the most prevalent in the Ukrainian military.
[Lev Silenko] Tell me your name,
and I'll tell you who you are
[Archive] My Dazhbog... [Archive] My Dazhbog...
[Archive] You are the holy spirit of my people [Archive] You are the holy spirit of my people
[Aleksandr Korelov, Lawyer, Theologian]
[Korelov] We see that this is an imitation of a kind of church service
[Korelov] There is a portrait of Silenko on the table. In 1964, he founded RUNVira
[Korelov] And to this day, he's venerated practically as a saint
[Yury Borisyonok] It's quite a primitive cult. Silenko was deified after his death
[Archive] Let us pray to Dazhbog, our lord
[Archive] Glory to Dazhbog!
[VO] RUNVira’s neo-pagans claim their ‘religion’ is at least 11,000 years old.
[VO] In fact, it’s closer to 50 years.
[VO] It was created on the East Coast of America, not on the banks of the Dnieper River.
[Archive] Glory to Dazhbog! Glory to the spirits and our ancestors!
[Geoff Young, Politician, US] RUNVira religion has meetings,
and members of the Ukrainian diaspora living in Canada,
the United States, Poland... wherever they are...
[Archive] My Dazhbog, you are unique!
[Archive] For my faith in you is one,
instilled in my soul by you!
[VO] Lev Silenko, 'RUNVira’s' founder,
began his journey to becoming the ultimate prophet of Ukrainian modern paganism in WWII.
[Yury Borisyonok, Associate Professor, Department Of South & West Slavic History, History Faculty, Lomonosov Moscow State University]
[Yury Borisyonok] In the Security Ministry report drawn up on Silenko,
we see that in, the summer of 1941,
he found himself in an area that was occupied by the Germans
[Yury Borisyonok] And we see that he was in Kiev,
where he joined a newspaper called, 'Ukrainian Word'
[VO] By then, Silenko was propagating Ukrainian exceptionalism
and hatred of Russians and Jews.
[VO] From the article 'Jews are mankind’s greatest enemy.'
'Ukrainian Word' newspaper, December 13, 1941:
[VO] The Jews seemed to have achieved their goal in easter of Europe.
[VO] They have come to power as the commissars.
[VO] The role of the Jews in the tragic history of the Bolshevik socialist country is very well known…
[VO] And when the time comes, Ukraine will hold them to account for it.
[VO] Soviet counterintelligence later learned
Silenko had undergone Hitler's propaganda courses in a Polish camp.
[Yury Borisyonok] After that, he worked to recruit Ukrainians taken by force to Germany
[Yury Borisyonok] In May 1945, we see that he was in
the American occupation zone in Germany,
where he was kept in a displaced persons camp
[VO] After Hitler's defeat,
former Third Reich intelligence officer Lev Silenko was transferred to the US,
where he continued his work in the CIA's special Ukrainian unit.
[Borisyonok] Project Aerodynamic implied a high spend to train Ukrainian nationalists
and send them by air to Western Ukraine
[Borisyonok] When it was clear that Soviet troops and security services
had all but wiped out the Banderists,
a new phase began, propaganda, information, and a psychological one
[Archive] They worked at a radio station there?
[Archive] A radio station, yes
[Archive] What was it called, do you remember the station's name?
[Archive] Voice of Ukraine
[VO] In the mid-1960s,
Silenko transformed suddenly from propagandist to prophet of the new Ukrainian church.
[Vladimir Rogatin, History PhD, Associate Professor, Religious Studies Department, Kazan Federal University]
[Vladimir Rogatin] The cult first appeared as an entity in 1964, in Chicago
[Rogatin] Then in New York State,
in Spring Glen city, they set up the Mother Ukraine Temple
[VO] This strange Ukrainian ‘religion’
appeared as part of the classified CIA 'Prolog' Project.
[VO] It aimed to stir up separatist and nationalist sentiment in Soviet Ukraine.
[Geoff Young] And therefore, I think, the United States are most certainly
bear some of the blame for this Nazi-like religion.
[VO] While studying declassified CIA documents,
Geoff Young, a House of Representatives candidate,
often found facts indicating US intelligence
collaborated with radical, quasi-religious organisations.
[Geoff Young] It’s a religious sect, or cult, that stresses the superiority of the Ukrainian people,
Ukrainian nationalism, denigrates ethnic Russians, everything Russian.
[VO] In just a few years during the 1960s,
RUNVira chapters were opened across the United States and Canada.
[VO] Glory to Dazhbog! Great glory!
[Geoff Young] It doesn’t matter what these groups say or do.
[Geoff Young] It will support them if the groups are causing hatred and chaos within the target country.
[VO] Even on his deathbed, Silenko remained silent about who was behind establishing his cult,
and who had been funding it for decades.
[Archive] Did you have benefactors or not?
[Archive] I didn't [Voice] No?
[Archive] There were no benefactors
[Geoff Young] Since World War II, the United States has fostered
extremist anti-Russian prejudices and hatreds among the Ukrainian diaspora
in, at least, Canada, the United States, and countries in Eastern Europe.
[Geoff Young] Probably – everywhere in the world.
[Geoff] It’s possible that the CIA funded RUNVira
simply in order to help it turn the Ukrainian people against Russia.
[Archive] Joy, health, and glory to Dazhbog!
[VO] Years later, the effort yielded results.
[VO] Here, a RUNVira ‘priest’ reads a sermon to UAF soldiers before battle.
[VO] Praises to the national deity the cultists call Dazhbog are mixed with the Ukrainian nationalists' slogan.
[Archive] Glory to Ukraine! [Archive] Glory to the Heroes!
[VO] Over the last few years, pagan rituals like this
have grown especially popular in the Ukrainian military.
[Oksana] We're now at the former base of the 'Aidar' volunteer battalion,
a nationalist unit
[Oksana] They were so cruel and violent against civilians and against POWs,
as they worshipped Satanists
[Oksana] This is a kind of icon
[Oksana] It represents a dead woman, Madonna, who they worshipped
[Oksana] It's the kind of icon to which 'Aidar' and 'Azov' soldiers bowed
[Officer] Out! Face the wall
[VO] A recent member of a nationalist cult, 'Azov' regiment soldier Renat Aliev,
shot a fleeing doctor in cold blood
during fighting in Mariupol in spring 2022.
[Renat Aliev] I killed a civilian in early April. I shot him five times with my AK-74...
and killed him
[VO] Investigators say, Aliev clearly saw the victim’s white scrubs and red-cross armband,
but still pulled the trigger.
[Aleksandr, Officer, Russian Investigative Committee]
[Officer Aleksandr] At the time of his death, he was wearing a doctor's uniform
and was probably performing his medical duties
[Archive] Glory to Ukraine! [Archive] Glory to the Heroes!
[VO] 'Azov' Regiment soldiers in the UAF shot this footage.
[VO] At this military post, they ritually install a pagan idol.
[VO] The shrine is drenched with blood from a fresh arm wound.
[Archive] Glory to Perun!
[Archive] Ukraine to Ukrainians!
[Archive] Holy Mother of heroes! [Archive] Holy Mother of heroes!
[Renat Aliev] We gathered at Urzuf base
[Renat Aliev] We bade farewell to the dead
[Renat Aliev] We lit up torches..
and each regiment fighter went by and saluted a fallen...
comrade
[Renat Aliev] We walked round in a circle
[Archive] Turn around
[Officer Aleksandr] Among the captured Ukrainian soldiers,
there are many who observe various pagan rituals
and their bodies are covered in tattoos
[Renat] It's a pagan symbol of belonging to three worlds:
dead, living, and unborn. It means, 'Come and get It'
[Renat] And, the skull, and these words mean, 'Death, Victory, or Valhalla'
[Archive] Great Ukraine! [Archive] Great Ukraine!
[Archive] Sacred! [Archive] Sacred!
[Archive] Free! [Archive] Free!
[Archive] Glory to Ukraine! [Archive] Glory to the Heroes!
[Archive] Glory to the Nation! [Archive] Death to enemies!
[VO] Modern paganism and the fight against Russian Orthodoxy
emerged in Ukraine almost immediately after the Soviet Union’s collapse.
[VO] In just a few years, Ukraine became a world-centre for the spiritual chaos,
actively supported by the US and Europe.
[Archive] Glory to the Nation! [Archive] Death to enemies!
[Gennady Mokhnenko] Today, I must be pastor.
[VO] This is confirmed by documents found at the premises of Maknenko's cult.
[Oksana] These documents show their fundraising activities
[Oksana] Funds were transferred in dollars,
as we can see, literally from the US church
[Valery, Local] Many trucks with foreign plates used to come here
[Valery] A lot of people gathered here
[Valery] They unloaded and loaded stuff, they came here very often
about twice a week
[Oksana] Any documents, ledgers, evidence or photos we found...
were always related to the US. They supported it all financially
[Oksana] We see here, a children's home, a project, sponsored by US curators
[Mokhnenko] If Putin's forces, if those bandits, continue to kill people on my land,
I'll probably call the bishop and ask him to relieve me
of my title as pastor
and let me take a place beside my guys to protect my land
[Oksana] Very violent people went to join units like 'Aidar' and 'Azov',
who didn't just kill - they killed anyone who wasn't pure Ukrainian
[Archive] Glory to Ukraine! [Archive] Glory to the Heroes!
[VO] Ukraine's top officials were behind hundreds of emerging religious cults in Ukraine.
[VO] Among them, the mayor of Ukraine's capital, Leonid Chernovetsky.
[Leonid Chernovetsky] Today, I can force any minister into submission, no problem
[Chernovetsky] But...
if I'm banned from church...
that would be my biggest loss
[VO] Kiev's mayor considered himself an activist of the 'Embassy of God' church.
[VO] It was founded by Nigerian, Sunday Adelaja, in the early 1990s.
[Archive] Wave at me! May God bless you! God has found you
[Archive] Let us praise God!
[Archive] He will always be...
[VO] Alyona Bulatova's story resonates with those of thousands of other 'Embassy of God' members.
[VO] The new church forced her to quit her job,
sell her flat, and donate all her savings for ‘the good of’ the church’s community.
[Archive] Here I am, Jesus! Adelaja!
[Alyona] I was invited when Sunday Adelaja was already giving sermons
[Alyona Bulatova, Former 'Embassy Of God' Cult Member] I was told he was very interesting
[Archive] Hallelujah! Find Jesus!
[Archive] Praise be to God!
[Alyona] They raised money from people,
a whole lot of it
[Alyona] He used to say, 'I can raise $20,000 within 5 minutes, or 5 or 6 seconds'
[Alyona] And, indeed, he could
[Archive] Whoever can help us with $1,000, please stand up
19… 20…
[Archive] We've reached $20,000
[Alyona] This is a true life tragedy
[Alyona] This is why I don't even want to recall it
[Archive] Thank you for all you're doing for us!
[Korelov] Kiev's mayor supported Sunday Adelaja, he was one of his favourites
[Alyona] This is our pastor with the ex-mayor, Chernovetsky
[Alyona] Church members helped him get enough votes,
so the man became a Rada MP
thanks to Sunday
[Archive] He who trusts in the Lord is what?
[Archive] He will be safe!
[Rogatin] There's collective voting,
when a religious organisation decides to support someone,
all of its followers' votes go to that candidate
[VO] Yulia Tymoshenko, then Prime Minister of Ukraine,
was one of the cult's influential friends.
[Alyona] I saw Yulia Tymoshenko at some of the sermons,
so she was there, in those halls
[VO] From the early 2000s, the press has noted the 'Embassy of God' cult’s direct links with US intelligence.
[VO] And Sunday Adelaja himself has never denied this.
[Alyona] He always showed off this photo with Clinton,
saying you must strive to reach your goals
[VO] In August 2007, Adelaja spoke at the UN.
[Adelaja] I thank God for having the faith to give us a chance
to proclaim Jesus' name from all the world's high pulpits
[VO] A few months earlier, he opened a US Senate meeting with a prayer.
[Adelaja] Oh, Lord of creation. We acknowledge your lordship today, your sovereignity, love, and power.
[VO] US authorities' reverence towards the man who built Ukraine’s largest financial pyramid,
and was also implicated in mobsterism and sexual crimes, is quite understandable.
[VO] Adelaja and his followers helped pro-American candidate,
Viktor Yushchenko, become President of Ukraine.
[Archive] Yushchenko! Yushchenko!
[Archive] Yushchenko!
[VO] During the 2004 protests,
the 'Embassy of God' leader marshalled thousands of his church's followers
to the streets to support Yushchenko.
[VO] These protests became known as the 'Orange Revolution.'
[Alyona] He told everyone to support Maidan
and come out for the 'Orange Revolution'
[Korelov] Cults were used to herd people to Maidan and keep them there,
and Maidan's entire ideology was purely cultist
[Aleksandr Egortsev, Journalist] There was a tent camp,
and the cultists would bring food and water there
[Egortsev] So, the Maidan supporters were actively subsidised
and able to function, in part, due to the support of religious cults
[Archive] Viktor Andreevich Yushchenko is our new president! Yushchenko!
[Archive] Yushchenko! Yushchenko!
[VO] 'Embassy of God' cult members attended the rally,
as did representatives of the nationalist 'RUNVira' church,
which had emerged as part of the CIA's 'Prologue' Project.
[VO] Yushchenko’s wife, Ukraine's future first lady Ekaterina Chumachenko,
stood next to him on the Maidan stage.
[VO] From childhood, she had attended Silenko's American church.
[Veronika Krasheninnikova, Head, Institute of Foreign Policy Research and Initiatives] In the 'RUNVira Youth' newsletter, we see a photograph
of 5-yo Catherine Chumachenko
[Veronika] She's standing on a chair, reciting a poem
about how bad Muscovites and Jews are,
and how real Ukrainians will determine their own lives
and save Ukraine
[Egortsev] Of course, once she became the first lady of Ukraine,
this neo-pagan spirit quickly began to spread across the country
[Archive] May the power of the supreme race be with us and bless us!
[Borisyonok] About 60 of this cult's cells have popped up since the early 90s
[Borisyonok] The ideology was actively absorbed,
and the peak of this absorption occurred after 2005,
when Viktor Yushchenko became president of Ukraine
[VO] Supporters of nationalist cults,
including RUNVira's, were raised in Western Ukraine’s youth camps.
[VO] They were the main fighting force in the 2014 coup.
[Rogatin] Various neo-pagan movements were present there, including 'RUNVira'
[Rogatin] They stood by the headquarters with their flag,
which was then located directly at Euromaidan, in the heart of Kiev
[Rogatin] There were also 'didukh' statues:
a straw structure that acts as a kind of amulet,
which was installed in the centre of Euromaidan
[VO] Oddly, almost all instigators of these Ukrainian protests
had direct links with influential US religious organisations.
[Archive] If it's a bullet to the head, then it's a bullet to the head
[VO] Arseniy Yatsenyuk became Prime Minister of Ukraine immediately after the coup.
[VO] Journalists in Kiev discovered his sister, Alina Steele, occupied a senior position in US Scientology.
[Korelov] Scientology is a special service within a special service
[Korelov] There are a huge number of Scientology centres
that collect data on people in a variety of ways:
on military personnel, politicians, businessmen, lawyers, etc.
[VO] Another coup organiser, Aleksander Turchinov,
future acting President of Ukraine.
[Archive] And you continue your peaceful struggle until our victory
[VO] In 2014, Turchinov announced the beginning of the war in the east of then-unified Ukraine.
[Turchinov] Anti-terrorism measures will be taken
[VO] He ordered the bombing of Donbass’ peaceful cities.
[VO] Ukrainians nicknamed Turchinov the 'bloody pastor.'
[VO] Throughout his tenure in the country’s highest echelons of power,
[VO] Turchinov preached regularly from the pulpit of the 'Word of Life' Baptist Church in Kiev.
[Turchinov] Our great God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit! Amen!
[Geoff Young] The entire war in Ukraine, which I believe started in 2014, not in 2022,
was an effort to kill Russians, and destabilise, if they could, the Russian government,
and overthrow Vladimir Putin.
[Young] So the CIA uses anyone and anything. If there’s a religion…
[Protester] My brothers' blood is on your hands!
[VO] Ever since Urkaine became an independent state,
the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate has been under continual pressure.
[VO] In 2023, with the blessing of European and US human rights organisations,
the pressure turned to outright religious war.
[Archive] What are you doing?
[Archive] What is this?
[VO] In the last 12 months alone,
there have been hundreds of attacks on Ukrainian Orthodox priests,
dozens of whom have been imprisoned.
[VO] On live TV and without hesitation,
Ukraine’s nationalist ideologists call on their fellow citizens to burn Russian Orthodox churches.
[Dmitry Korchinsky, Ukrainian Political Figure] You can also burn these chicken coops they call churches!
[Protesters] Down with Muscovite occupiers!
[VO] Ukrainian police and military participate in seizing Orthodox shrines.
[VO] The monks in Ukraine’s oldest monastery,
the Kiev-Pechyorsk Lavra, were ordered to leave their cells, and the abbot was detained.
[Protester] Make him kneel, shoot him, and broadcast it on all Russian media
[Protester] There should be no discussion, no house arrests, no law!
[Protester] We aren't Christians, we're pagans!
[VO] Seized churches fall into the hands of the newly formed Ukrainian churches.
[VO] A 'RUNVira' obelisk, with nationalist runes, inscribed ‘Lev Silenko’,
the sect’s founder, is installed at the entrance to captured Kiev-Pechyorsk Lavra.
[VO] The inscription says Silenko lit the ‘sacred fire’ of the Ukrainian spiritual revolution.
[VO] A fire that has already destroyed many, many lives, and continues to rage.