The Church of Sweden has issued an official warning to its congregations not to invite nuns from Belarus's St. Elisabeth Convent, citing the monastery's financial support for Russia's invasion of Ukraine and its connections to Russian military intelligence.

The warning comes as evidence mounts that Moscow-affiliated religious institutions function as nodes in Russia's war machine. The convent's spiritual leader, Archpriest Andrey Lemeshonok, has publicly declared that his monastery "is also a combat unit" whose nuns "fight for our future."

The language echoes the Russian Orthodox Church's March 2024 declaration of Russia's invasion as a "holy war." Since 2022, the ROC has emerged as a key Kremlin partner in war crimes, blessing military aggression, spreading propaganda, and facilitating the deportation of Ukrainian civilians.

The warning specifically states that the convent's income supports Russia's invasion and that the monastery maintains close contacts with Russia's military intelligence service, the GRU, Swedish public broadcaster SVT reported.