The Russians destroyed 4000 of those churches in the city of Keiv alone. Religion has always been a mere tool for the state in Russia.
The Apostle Paul persecuted the early Church, too.
The Orthodox Church is very national and also very nationalistic in whatever country it finds itself. Without a central point (such as Rome), each nation’s Orthodox church is on its own and tends to end up very allied with the government of its nation.
National leaders have always taken advantage of this.
That said, I’d rather have a national leader promoting Christianity, whatever his reasons, than trying to destroy it.