The canonical church in the understanding of Russian propaganda is exclusively the Russian Orthodox Church or the Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. Like, others are non-canonical, that is, false. Allegedly, Moscow is the only center of Orthodoxy.

To confirm the non-canonicity of other churches, in particular Ukrainian ones, Russian propagandists claim that Ukraine is a pagan state, and that in general the Ukrainian leadership is ready to destroy all shrines, because Zelenskyi is a stubborn Satanist. According to Russian propaganda, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine does not meet religious canons, because the primates allegedly dream of canonizing Stepan Bandera and even Joe Biden. And peaceful Ukrainians allegedly do not respect other religions and wish death to all dissident believers.

Moscow resorts to conspiracy theories to show how Ukrainians are “sinning” if they refuse to visit the UOC-MP. For example, the authors said that the OCU “sows confusion” by expelling the UOC-MP from the territory of Ukraine. Allegedly, on one of the main temples of Ukraine, “crosses turned black” due to the blasphemous actions of Ukrainians. Even the animals pointed to the blasphemy of humans. It was rumored that flocks of dark birds circled over Kyiv precisely because of the sinful actions of the Ukrainians. And the propagandists called the recent spring flood in Kyiv the punishment of God, although this is a characteristic natural phenomenon for cities located on the banks of rivers.

Thus, propaganda is trying to convince its consumers that Ukraine's actions are contrary to religious canons, and therefore it is worth mobilizing and saving the “canonical Orthodox Church” with weapons. This is one of the messages by which Russia justifies its invasion. However, there is no “canonical” or “non-canonical” church. Ukrainians choose the church they like. The OCU is an independent church recognized by 4 out of 13 local churches, in particular Constantinople, Oleksandria, Cyprus and Greece.