Remember the KGB?

According to Canada’s ambassador for religious freedom, Andrew Bennett, Russia is back to its old tricks of intimidation—specifically in Crimea and eastern Ukraine.

Bennett says Russian security officials have been found sitting in the back of Kiev Patriarch Orthodox churches taking notes during liturgies with the goal of intimidating worshipers and the clergy. In other scenarios, Russian officials are going door-to-door in Crimean neighborhoods seeking out what they term “extremist” religious literature.

Bennett says Russia is using such tactics to try and turn what is essentially a geopolitical conflict into a religious conflict as well.