I served during the Cold War (1980s through 2005). I remember the tales of missionaries being jailed for smuggling bibles across the iron curtain. Fast forward to 2003, I’m on a START inspection team in Bryansk, Russia for a rail mobile launcher elimination. There were two Russian Orthodox churches outside the team hotel, and we walked over for a look. One of our FSB escorts crossed himself upon entering the sanctuary, and I bought a pretty good quality Russian bible for ten rubles. The change was pretty cool to see.
Thank you for your service. While I have no doubt that the faith of the average russian (like your FSB minder) is genuine, the sad fact is that the russian state has co-opted the ROC as a tool of the state, to get ordinary russians to accept the suffering, deprivation and abuse heaped on them by their government.