North Asia

New law proposed to protect "Russian" values over Western ones. "Denazify" Ukraine and "de-Westernize" the entire Russian world. Originality and "superiority" of Russia extolled.

The two families will carry the cross during Good Friday service at the Colosseum. The Meditations will refer to their suffering. “Lord where are you? Speak to us amid the silence of death and division, and teach us [. . .] to rebuild what bombs tried to destroy.” At another station, a missionary family describes their travails.

Government and independent polls put popular approval of the Russian president at 80%. But respondents fear of consequences limits free expression and veracity of data. In reality, the country is divided on support for the ongoing war. Many express only a sense of "patriotism".

Today's headlines: a 17-year-old Palestinian boy is the latest victim of the wave of violence; Burmese military abandons Mandalay Cathedral;2021 sees a doubling of human trafficking victims in Cambodia; Yerevan and Baku are close to an agreement on the normalization of bilateral relations; Kazakh governmen to pay 12 million euros to demolish the former presidential palace; Patriarch Kirill invitesRussians to "rally around" Putin.

In an 1864 novel by Dostoevsky, a short imperial officer sits in the basement of his home, angry at the whole world and eager for revenge. In Tolstoy's War and Peace, unlike the war litany of the priest, Natasha “prayed to God to forgive them all, and her too”. These are the two faces that show how Russian culture, today a victim of propaganda and ideology, can help to truly understand what is happening in this war.

During a meeting with young people in the Phanar, the ecumenical patriarch said that no row can be settled by war. He slammed Russia’s invasion, justified by pretexts like NATO on the borders. Nothing justifies attacking “innocent people”. Bartholomew also criticised Patriarch Kirill who speaks of “holy war”.

Premier Pašinyan reportedly open to the possibility. It would reunite Russia, Armenia, Belarus and the part of Ukraine occupied by the Russians. Armenian commentator: the people would oppose it. Attempts have been made to resume negotiations with Azerbaijan on Nagorno-Karabakh.

The head of the Chechen republic is one of the most active protagonists of Moscow's military aggression against Ukraine. He unites the galaxy of Islamic jihad with the Orthodox "holy war". The smoke screen he provides suits Moscow as it covers up war crimes and perpetuates confusion surrounding retreats and strategies.

The 90th anniversary of the director-prophet's birth. In the Soviet era he boldly testified to his insights on God through the language of art. His films reflect reasons that led to Putin's invasion of Ukraine. In the film "Stalker" he prophesied Chernobyl.

It aims to "broaden the horizons of pupils and the formation of honest, worthy and orderly citizens and patriots." A tool for Putin patriotism. A rereading of history through the prism of "truth and values".A new book by Patriarch Kirill also presented.

Azerbaijan also began the holy month differently from Iran. Aliyev is using the war in Ukraine to boost relations with Turkey’s Erdoğan, questioning Russia’s military presence in his country after the war with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh. For Turkey, this is an opportunity to fill any vacuum left by a weaker Russia in the Caucasus.

In the fog of mistrust and hostility that has long imobilized relations between Catholics and Orthodox in Russia, the charge of proselytism has been progressively "neutralised". However, another accusation remained, far more incisive and historically well-founded in its various interpretations: that of Uniatism in Ukraine. The history of a Church since 1596 reluctant to exalt the Moscow "third Rome".