MOSCOW, RUSSIA - MAY, 1 (RUSSIA OUT) Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, left, attends an Orthodox Easter Mass at the Christ The Saviour Catherdal, in Moscow on May,1, 2016.

Above all, Putin has made use of the Russian Orthodox Church and its leader, Patriarch Kirill, much the way Donald Trump made use of evangelical leaders, to establish his traditionalist bona fides.

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 ...