Lower thirds:

00:02 Report by Teri Schultz
00:39 Patrik Oksanen | Stockholm Free World Forum
01:31 Elisabeth Unell | Vasteras City Council
02:17 Frederic Brusi | Agency for Support to Religious Communities
02:33 Sergei Belyaev | Russian ambassador to Sweden
03:07 Teri Schultz | DW Correspondent

Script:

The Church of the Holy Mother of God of Kazan gleams brightly in the forest outside Vasteras, Sweden…
 
but some say this Russian Orthodox parish has a dark side…
 
<various of church exterior>
— funded by Russia’s state nuclear agency Rosatom, 
— a subsidiary of Moscow’s Russian Orthodox church which actively supports the war in Ukraine, 
— led by a priest convicted of financial fraud, who’s rarely seen in public, and
 
SOT: Patrik Oksanen, Stockholm Free World Forum
“It is definitely a tool for Russian foreign influence.”
 
Hybrid warfare researcher Patrik Oksanen has voiced concern about the church for years. 
 
SOT: Patrik Oksanen, Stockholm Free World Forum
 “The malicious connection here is that when you have a church you have an area that is protected from counter-espionage. The Swedish authorities are not allowed to eavesdrop on church in the Swedish law.” 
 
He and a colleague first started publishing their investigations as construction got underway in 2019. That alerted some city officials to the strategic importance of the land they’d sold.

One of Sweden’s longest airport runways, used for military exercises, is just some 300 meters away…major industry headquarters, a hospital and a port, are also nearby.

Back then, Vasteras City Council member Elisabeth Unell couldn’t get enough support to stop the construction. Attitudes changed with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022... 
 
SOT: Elisabeth Unell, Vasteras City Council 
“I thought we have to do something”
“The problem is the connection with Kremlin.
“It is a strong connection, and then it shouldn't be 300 meters from our airport.”
 
Her initiative –  to make the church sell back the land and find a new location – finally got unanimous council backing in June. 
 
The city is now seeking mandatory national government approval. 
 
Last year the agency providing financial assistance to non-state religions throughout Sweden cut off the Vasteras church
 
after Swedish intelligence warned them Moscow was using this parish “quote”:
 
SOT: Frederic Brusi, Agency for Support to Religious Communities
"to conduct intelligence gathering and other security-threatening activities.” 
“Our decisions do not infringe upon your right to actually practice religion. So that you can still do freely in Sweden. But if the state is supposed to give you grants, then of course you have to be aligned with the Swedish state's values.”

Russian Ambassador Sergei Belyaev says the city council decision reflects a nation-wide “anti-Russia campaign”, and will unfairly hurt believers. 
 
SOT: Sergei Belyaev, Russian ambassador to Sweden
 “it was not their choice where to build the church. It was given them.”
“Orthodox people from different places of Sweden come to this church. 
“It's the only church of Russian Orthodox church working in Sweden.” 
 
Neighbors of the church didn’t want to be identified while sharing their opinions.
 
SOT: Vasteras resident 
“I don't think they should be here. They can have a church, I've no problem with that, but not here. Here it's too strategic to have it.”
 
PTC: Teri Schultz, DW
“We came here for Sunday morning services, hoping someone from church leadership would agree to come out and speak with us after several requests over multiple days. But they didn’t.// cut for time?  Most of the worshippers arriving here also would barely look at us. One man shook his finger as a clear sign to go away. A Russian-speaking woman called us spion or spies.// Only one young man agreed to speak with us."
 
We are obscuring his identity because he is under 18. He said he’s proud to attend — and defend — the church and hopes the expropriation effort fails.
 
SOT: church member (anonymized)
“if they turn this church down, they are turning their back against the people who live in their city.”
 
But it seems our conversation may have made the church turn its back on him. After speaking with DW, the young man  was not allowed to enter. 
 
Incidents like this may add to concerns about what might be going on inside this fence. Whatever that is, the city of Vasteras has faith it won’t be happening HERE much longer.