Information security service firm Secureworks indicated that Russian military intelligency agency (GRU)-connected hacker group Fancy Bear, or APT 28, attempted to gain access to the correspondence of senior Orthodox religious leaders in Turkey. The targets included top aides to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I. Bartholomew I possesses final decision making authority to deny or grant Ukraine’s petition to separate from the Russian Orthodox Church. Russian state-sponsored media outlets, such as Sputnik and RT, frequently promote disinformation to undermine Ukraine’s petition to form its own church.