Orthodox Christmas

Floor Speech

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Mr. GRASSLEY. On another point, yesterday, January 6, was Christmas Day for many Christians of the Orthodox faith. But during the Soviet Union--if you remember the history of the Soviet Union--Christmas had to be celebrated in secret, lest the communist authorities would find out and you would be punished.

The godless Soviet regime encouraged celebrating the new year with a visit from Grandfather Frost, a secular Russian folk character, in place of ``Jolly Old St. Nick.'' In a repeat of history, ``KGB Dictator Putin''--now President Putin, supposedly--banned Santa Claus in occupied Ukraine. Christmas caroling, Nativity scenes, and any mention of St. Nicholas were reportedly banned in Russian-occupied Ukraine for fear of spreading Western influence. A video recently came out showing the Russian military shooting down Santa's sled over Russia to the praise of Grandfather Frost. This is a war on Christmas, communist style.

In Russia today, religious expression outside of the state-controlled church is discouraged. And in Russian-occupied Ukraine, all Protestant churches have been closed. The head of the Russian church is a KGB guy who answers directly to KGB Putin. It is no wonder, then, that only 16 percent of Russians say religion is very important to them, and only 7 percent attend church weekly. It is also no wonder that most Ukrainians chose to celebrate Christmas with the West on the 25th, even while under rocket fire from Russia.

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