Video from Pints with Aquinas
"This clip was taken from a recent livestream with Ralph Martin. Watch the full interview here: https://youtu.be/T79U_9c29ww In this clip, Ralph talks about "wokism" and how Putin, of all people, is cautioning the West against making the same mistake Russia did years ago." from video introduction.
We all know something about Putin, we of course don't know his heart only God does. But his comments are interesting and may show how God is at work around his world!
"Vladimir Putin's father was an atheist and his mother was an Orthodox Christian. Vladimir was baptized into the Orthodox Church as an infant.
In an interview with Russian journalists published in 2000, Putin explained the significance of his well-known Orthodox cross pendant:
In 1993, when I worked on the Leningrad City Council, I went to Israel as part of an official delegation. Mama gave me my baptismal cross to get it blessed at the Lord's Tomb. I did as she said and then put the cross around my neck. I have never taken it off since.
In an interview with TIME magazine for their "Person of the Year" cover story in 2007, Putin was asked about his religion. Here's how he responded:
TIME: One of the issues that is being discussed in our presidential election is the role of faith in government. One of the old stereotypes that Americans have about Russia, and certainly the Russia of the U.S.S.R., is that it was a godless country. You have talked about your own faith. What role does faith play in your own leadership and what role should faith play in government and in the public sphere? PUTIN: First and foremost we should be governed by common sense. But common sense should be based on moral principles first. And it is not possible today to have morality separated from religious values. I will not expand, as I don't want to impose my views on people who have different viewpoints. TIME: Do you believe in a Supreme God? PUTIN: Do you? ... There are things I believe, which should not in my position, at least, be shared with the public at large for everybody's consumption because that would look like self-advertising or a political striptease.
In 2012, Putin was honored in Bethlehem and a street was named after him.
In 2014, Slate described Putin as a "committed believer" who "surrounds himself with other influential people of faith and regularly invokes God in his public statements."
In 2016, Putin made a half-day pilgrimage to Mount Athos, an important Orthodox monastery in Greece..." from the article: Vladimir Putin and Religion