For centuries, the Russian Orthodox Church has intertwined its fate with that of princes, khans, tsars, emperors, the Politburo – and now the president. This relationship is the centre of Lucy Ash's book The Baton and the Cross: Russia's Church from Pagans to Putin (Icon Books, 2024). When Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, many seemed shocked when the Orthodox Church sanctified Putin's “special military operation” – the official name given by the state to the war. 

Using interviews gathered across the country and evidence from the archives, Ash has assembled a compelling picture of an institution with a distinct line of politics. She tracks its engagement with the KGB, the FSB, and Russia’s current incursions into Africa, showing how the Church has long been part of the Kremlin's geopolitical ‘crusade’ for multipolarity. In conversation with Denis Maksimov, Ash will uncover some surprising tenets of Russia's ‘official' spirituality.

Lucy Ash is an acclaimed presenter of radio and TV documentaries on foreign affairs. Between 1990 and 1994, she lived in Moscow, running the bureau of BBC radio during the 1991 Soviet coup attempt and the subsequent collapse of the USSR. During the turbulent years of post-Soviet Russia, she reported for the BBC and Scotland On Sunday. Since then she has won the Sony Gold, Amnesty International, the One World Radio Documentary Award, New York Festivals Radio Award and Radio Story of the Year award from the Foreign Press Association. She has a lifelong interest in Russian history and is fascinated by the way stories from the past inform the present. She studied at the Sorbonne Nouvelle, New College, Oxford and City University School of Journalism. Some of her reports, documentaries and features for the BBC over the years, as well as newspaper and magazine pieces, can be found on her website. 

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