KENAI, Alaska — A Russian Orthodox church in Kenai is looking to install a new fire-suppressing system to protect the religious art and historical artifacts that reside next to dozens of candles.

In 2019, Ukraine's Orthodox Church was granted independence from the Russian Orthodox Church by the ecumenical patriarch in Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey). It caused an uproar in Moscow.

The law, said Maksym Vasin, director for international advocacy and research at the Institute for Religious Freedom in Kyiv, is meant to protect Orthodox believers in Ukraine from Russian propaganda.

In this Feb. 12, 2016, file photo, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, left, and Pope Francis talk during their meeting at the Jose Marti airport in Havana.

Long suspected as a tool of Russian soft power, the Russian Orthodox Church has openly embraced the Kremlin’s war on Ukraine. That’s accelerated efforts in a growing number of countries to ...

Russian military bloggers have criticized a Chechen award ceremony for Adam Kadyrov, son of regional leader Ramzan Kadyrov, after the Russian national emblem was displayed without its Orthodox ...

FILE – Pope Francis, left, reaches to embrace Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill after signing a joint declaration at the Jose Marti International airport in Havana, Cuba, Friday, Feb. 12, 2016.

The Russian Orthodox Church is an outspoken exception. Patriarch Kirill, who leads the church, has described the conflict as a “holy war” and said that any young man who died in action would ...

Dr. Sarah Riccardi-Swartz, a professor of religion and anthropology at Northeastern University, spent a year living with a community of Russian Orthodox monks and laypeople, nestled in a small West ...