Vladimir Putin has a new weapon in his grinding war with Ukraine: relics dating back to the 14th Century.
The Russian president, 73, is looking to Russia’s medieval past as his war in Ukraine shows little progress. He has approved plans to send relics of Grand Prince Dmitry Donskoy to Russian troops on the front line in an apparent attempt to boost morale, according to local media reports.
The unusual deployment comes as Putin faces mounting pressure over a war that has chewed through vast quantities of Russian military hardware while showing no signs of ending. Independent Russian outlet The Insider previously reported that the war has caused Russia’s largest depletion of military equipment in 80 years.
Putin visited Moscow’s Archangel Cathedral on Thursday, two days after the Russian Orthodox Church announced the discovery of Donskoy’s relics during restoration work.
Footage released by the Kremlin shows Putin holding a candle and crossing himself during a prayer service for the “victorious army,” “the Russian nation, and the president.” He then inspected two opened tombs containing cloth-covered remains.
The church said the remains are nearly complete, except for the left heel bone. It identified them as those of Donskoy, who died aged 39 in 1389 and became celebrated for defeating forces of the Mongol horde at Kulikovo Field in 1380. The church canonized him in 1988.
Putin gave his blessing to the church’s plans for the newly uncovered relics during his visit, The Moscow Times reported.
“I spoke with His Holiness yesterday and know about his plans [regarding the relics of Dmitry Donskoy]. Convey my best wishes to him,” Putin said, referring to Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, who earlier proposed taking fragments of the remains to Russian forces fighting in Ukraine.
Putin called the discovery “absolutely unique,” “amazing,” and “miraculous.”
Russian media mogul Konstantin Malofeev claimed the event was a “miracle” and “a direct blessing from God to Russia and the Russian army.”
Donskoy has long been revered as a figure of Russian military glory. Kremlin news agency Tass reported that his legacy is commemorated through churches and monuments erected in his honor, including inside the Kremlin.
The Soviet leadership also turned to Donskoy’s legacy during World War II, known in Russia as the Great Patriotic War, according to Tass. The Russian Orthodox Church raised funds to create a tank column bearing the medieval prince’s name in 1944.
Putin is grappling with mounting pressure at home and abroad. Russians are growing increasingly frustrated amid a deepening fuel crisis, sparked by Ukrainian drones striking his oil refineries. The Russian president last month suffered his sharpest drop in approval ratings since launching his full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
