[Timber Rattler]

Bullcrap. This is just more propaganda, this time from the other side.

Putin sees himself as a modern-day Peter the Great, and understands that he needs the support of the Russian Orthodox Church to maintain his power base.

There might be some Muslim Tatars in the Crimea, but the Crimea does not have a Muslim problem, and will not, because their numbers are too few and the culture there is different than in the Middle East.

[Girlene]

They are referring to the Greek Catholic church. See this FR thread. Greek Catholic Priest Kidnapped

The Greek Catholic priests of the peninsula have been directed not to celebrate services in their churches this Sunday but to serve in Roman Catholic Churches where in the company of other clergy their safety can be more easily guaranteed.

The Yanukovych government threatened to delegalize the Greek Catholic Church at Christmas time due to the pastoral attention that priest gave to protesting faithful. From 1946 to 1989 the UGCC was the biggest illegal Church in the world and the most substantial body of social opposition to Soviet rule in Ukraine. Since it did not collaborate with Soviet authorities it has enjoyed particular moral authority in Ukrainian society in the post-Soviet period and during the current social and political crisis.

[pgkdan]

Bullcrap. This is just more propaganda, this time from the other side. Putin sees himself as a modern-day Peter the Great, and understands that he needs the support of the Russian Orthodox Church to maintain his power base. There might be some Muslim Tatars in the Crimea, but the Crimea does not have a Muslim problem, and will not, because their numbers are too few and the culture there is different than in the Middle East.

Agreed.

[DoodleDawg]

Putin sees himself as a modern-day Peter the Great, and understands that he needs the support of the Russian Orthodox Church to maintain his power base.

Those being suppressed are Greek Orthodox and Ukranian Catholics, not Russian Orthodox. Perhaps the Ressian Orthodox will be brought in to fill in the hole left by driving out the other sects?