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Event recording: Paganism in the Russo-Ukraine war: between extremism and empowerment?
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On Friday 15 May the East Europe and Eurasian Security Working Group held a webinar on Paganism in the Russo-Ukraine war. Drawing on cutting‑edge research on Ukraine and Russia, the speakers analysed neo‑paganism both as a project of cultural renewal, and as an adaptive narrative resource within nationalist, militarised, and far‑right narratives. The webinar explored how the states and other institutions respond to pagan movements through strategies of toleration, repression, and selective instrumentalisation.
Chair:
- Victoria Hudson, Lecturer in Defence Studies, King’s College London
Presenters:
- Ross Downing: Introduction to the theme and the Pagan Extremism network
- Adrian Nonjon: War, Identity and the Sacred: a Panorama of neo-Paganism in contemporary Ukraine
- Kaarina Aitamurto: The Selective Securitization of Slavic Paganism in Russia
- Denys Brylov: The evolution of neo-Paganism within Russian armed groups during the Russia–Ukraine conflict
Photo by Lís Clíodhna on Unsplash